Redstart

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary is a piece about an encounter with this redstart, along the former railway line between Romaldkirk and Mickleton in Teesdale.

I've had brief glimpses of redstarts along this footpath on several occasions over the summer but this was the first really clear view.

This individual, a juvenile I think, led me a merry dance by almost allowing me within camera ranging then flitting to the next fence post.

Lovely little bird, though. 

It's probably on its way to North Africa by now.

Redstarts and Cuckoos

When we walked down the Derwent valley yesterday, from Blanchland down towards the reservoir, the hedgerow seemed to be alive with redstarts ..............

... with females outnumbering cock birds.....

This valley, with its hay meadows that provide plenty of insects and mature old trees with nest holes seems to be excellent redstart habitat.

It also seems to be favoured territory for cuckoos. We've heard a male calling on three successive visits over the last couple of weeks and even had this distant view of him. Given their relative scarcity, I'm guessing it might have been the same bird on each occasion, although there's no way of knowing.

The area down towards the reservoir, where there has been a lot of tree felling and where there's rough grassland that provides good meadow pipit habitat, must provide plenty of nests to parasitise ........ provided that he's found a mate.