Hoody Crows Lane

A few years ago I conducted a records search for past records at Buckton, this largely consisted of trawling through past RSPB Bempton reserve annual reports and picking out sightings from staff and volunteers who occasionally ventured down Hoddy Cows Lane. One thing that struck me in particular was the number of Hooded Crow records in late March and early April. In recent years Hooded Crows have become very scarce winter visitors and I wondered if I would ever get one on my Buckton list. This weekend (Sunday 17th April) produced that much wanted bird, distantly on the cliff top fields with Carrion Crows. In the past ten days a number of Hoodies have turned up along the east coast, fuelling speculation of their origins, are they continental ? Locally, the name Hoddy Cows Lane is said to be based on Hoddy Crows, which were formally very common around Buckton village, so nice to get a modern link to the past !

Other birds over the weekend included a good fall of 40 Wheatears in one cliff top field, a flyover Tree Pipit, the first Whitethroats (three ringed) and a interesting colour-ringed Willow Warbler retrapped which apparently was first caught near Carlisle in August 2010.