THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

In winter, moorland bird life falls to a very low ebb.  Except for the presence of an occasional grey-backed crow and the ever present grouse, no birds are to be seen.  With the return of spring the marsh birds revisit their breeding haunts and enliven the bleak uplands with their cheerful notes throughout the summer.  Cuckoos will be heard calling over moor and dale; and when evening approaches the “churr” of the ghostly nightjar resounds over the wild moorlands.  All leave towards the autumn, when, however, blackbirds and thrushes quit the valleys to feed on the bilberries and impart a flickering touch of avian life to the moors before the desolation of winter.

Elgee/Moorlands