Moorland Birds

We've already touched on my favourite moorland bird. It's the Curlew. That haunting call, to me, is the call of a truly wild creature and it certainly does something for me. All of this, together with the "dive bombing" experience, often in the Spittlers area, places it top of my list.

Second in the list is the Wheatear. This bird, at present on its way from West Africa, is just a bit larger than a Sparrow, and is easily identified by its white rump, often clearly seen during its undulating flight as it bobs along stone walls, such as that on Spittlers, just keeping ahead as you run along. The male bird is strikingly coloured with a grey crown and back and with a black face mask and wings. Its underside is a creamy buff colour. The female is similarly coloured but in a subdued manner. Wheatears arrive in this country usually about mid-April, along with the Swallows.

Somewhere in my list must be the Meadow Pipit, which, together with its chicks, is everyone's dinner. It attracts, for this reason, Sparrow Hawks and the much rarer Merlin and Short Eared Owl, both of which I have seen over our moors.

Others that should be listed are, of course, the Lapwing and the Skylark.

EtU, please show us a Wheatear.