Blackcocks in the snow

A good scout round the LDV yesterday failed to reveal Duncan Bye's Slavonian Grebe, but 18 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Whooper Swans at Aughton were a welcome sight. Several Sand Martins knocking about and the Smew was still on the refuge at Wheldrake Ings. It was enjoyable birding in the squally conditions, though the hoped-for Sandwich Tern didn't materialise.

Today, Addie and me got up rediculously early and headed north through the gathering dawn, to Teesdale, to check out the Black Grouse lek. A few miles short of our destination and shock horror - the road was closed! If you know Teesdale, you will know that to get to Langdon Beck the other way is a heck of a drive round, so I decided that I would chance it. Fortunately, the roadworks didn't start until 7am and the security guard let us through. Phew!

A little later we arrived at the Langdon Beck Hotel, but I couldn't find the spot where we had seen Black Grouse about twenty years ago. Not surprising really! We headed up the road to Cow Green Reservoir and spotted a Blackcock in a field next to the road which gave good views from the car. Whilst watching with the windows down, I suddenly heard the distinctive, bubbling and wheezing song of lekking Black Grouse. After a bit of scanning over the snow-dusted slopes, I picked up the birds about half a mile away on top of a ridge to the south. A bit distant, but through the scope we got good views of about 20 males and a couple of females, and Addie seemed pleased, if not a little bemused. This was a different lek to the one I could vaguely remember; perhaps the birds had moved. A pair of Ravens grunted overhead. As we descended, we spotted a solitary male Red Grouse standing rigid in the snow storm.

Red GrouseFifteen minutes later and the snow came in quite heavy and we decided it was best to drive down the hill a bit, so as not to get stuck. We headed up to St John's Chapel and almost ran into Dunc and Ange coming the other way. After a bit of a conflab by the side of the road, we followed them back and Dunc found the second lek next to the road at much shorter range allowing corking views. This was the place we had been to years ago, so it seemed there are two leks within a couple of miles of each other. At least 28 males displayed here with four females watching on. One male displayed in the nearest field giving great views from the car. Curlew and Snipe filled the air with their various noises and a Mippit parachuted on to the snowy pitch - a really cracking start to the day.

Battling Blackcocks

We headed east to a sunny Teesside to look for the Penduline Tits that have been hanging out at Saltholme. We found a lot of likely-looking Reed Mace, but failed to find the bandit-masked scamps.