After the Twelfth

This is one Red Grouse that has survived the glorious twelfth. The heather has been so purple this year that I couldn’t resist a trip to the Northern Dales this week to obtain a last clip of video before I start work scripting the new Pennine DVD. There were grouse everywhere and it was obvious that they have had a good breeding season with dry, warm weather in the crucial April/May period.

On a recent trip into Rochdale and Oldham we saw from the car two Sparrowhawks, two Buzzards, one Peregrine and one Kestrel not a bad total for a fifteen minute round trip.

The Swallow roost has now broken with only fifty birds present on the second of September, down from up to five thousand the day before. In the garden a female Sparrow Hawk has appeared and made a kill today flying off with its prey before I could come to the rescue!