A walk from Jubilee Tower up to Grit Fell then across to Ward’s Stone and back (a total of 12 km) failed to produce any Dotterel on the Ward’s Stone plateau. It over 10 years since I’ve been on the Ward’s Stone plateau and I was struck by the overall lack of birds compared to previous visits. It was only when I was on the final approach to Ward’s Stone that I realised that I had walked for over an hour without hearing a single Meadow Pipit!
Birds seen during the hour spent wandering across the Ward’s Stone plateau scanning for Dotterel comprised:
2 Curlew – an alarm calling pair keen to see off a passing Lesser Black-backed Gull
5 singing Skylark
5 Meadow Pipit
1 Wheatear
Also: 5 Red Grouse by the path during the walk up.
2 Stonechat – an alarm calling pair at the start of the walk, just above the Jubilee Tower car park
No Golden Plover seen or heard. There always used to be one calling west of the path on the way up to Grit Fell and others calling on Ward’s Stone plateau.
The only positive note was the large number of Green Hairstreak – 23 between the upper slopes of Grit Fell and the approach to Ward’s Stone.
Cuckoo – 1 flew past the car near Brow Top Farm
Whimbrel – 3 still in the field at the junction of Wyresdale Road and Little Fell Road.
Pete C
