Notes....

....from my book on bird behaviour.

Many years ago now I staked out one day at Out Rawcliffe to see a Barn Owl which had been interesting me over a period in it's daytime feeding habits and during the 20 minutes I was there I took note of a Yellowhammer. I decided to time the bird which was singing constantly during the 20 minutes and timed the song - which was repeated eight times per minute - resulting in my discovering this individual singing an amazing 160 times....some songster!

Another bird seen one day at Witherslack was a Song Thrush, a species I had no idea was given to mimicry. However, I saw this bird on two consecutive visits at the same place and was heard to mimic a Green Woodpecker with remarkable accuracy.

I think most of us know the Starling is a perfectionist at mimicking other birds and the one I saw and heard on a wire above our house one day certainly thought it was a Curlew....amazing stuff!

The cloudscape was taken from the Clougha track....well where else!