The Zoologist/4th series, vol 4 (1900)/Issue 707/Natural History Notes from Yorkshire for 1899

by Oxley Grabham

 

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE
FOR 1899.

By Oxley Grabham, M.A., M.B.O.U.

 

The nesting season of the year 1899 will ever be a red letter one in my calendar on account of the excellent series of photographs of nests and eggs, birds on their nests, birds feeding their young, &c, many of which are unique, that we—my friends Mr. T.A. Metcalfe and Captain H. Moore—were able to obtain. It was a bright sunny season, admirable as far as the light was concerned, and warm enough to be perfectly pleasant when we were lying up in water, or hiding for hours in the heather or gorse, for a shy bird to come back on to her nest. During the month of January many Duck were on inland flood water, but they were very bad to approach in a punt. Slavonian Grebes were about in some numbers. I had several Pipistrelle Bats and a sandy-coloured Mole brought to me. February was fine. Rooks and Herons were busy building by the 18th; a piebald Mole was caught near Knaresborough, but most unfortunately was thrown away before I heard about it. I have been trying to secure a piebald and a spotted example for years. Many Little Grebes about. The latter end of March was very cold and stormy. The pair of Rooks from Mr. Kitching's rookery at Heworth, that have built in a kind of cage just below the weathercock on the top of Heworth Church spire, 120 ft. from the ground, every year since 1887, have at last completed their nest after many failures. I saw a magnificent old male Heron that had unfortunately been trapped on a well-known Trout stream; he had been so often in the traps and escaped that he had not a whole toe left. His long crest-plumes measured nine inches.

Very early in April Long-eared Owls and Tawny Owls were sitting. On the 7th Metcalfe and I tried hard to get a photograph of the latter as she flew off her four eggs, which were in a hollow tree on a "scarr" side at the edge of a moor. There were two holes, and she always came out of the left-hand one; so we crawled up the hill-side, amidst the mud and stones—Metcalfe with the camera, and myself with a long hazel stick to tap the tree with—but she must have been on the look-out, for just as we got into position, and I was about to tap the tree, out she came from the right-hand hole, and so disappointed us. I found a Wild Duck's nest (Mallard) containing nineteen eggs. On the 25th of the month I saw the first Swallow, and heard the first Corncrake. The Cuckoo I did not hear till the 28th, on which date I found a Sky-Lark's nest with three eggs. Metcalfe got a lovely photo of a cock Lapwing, with crest erected, walking up to the nest.

On April 2nd, at 10.30 (Easter Sunday), a Noctule, or Great Bat, was hawking about in the sunshine over my garden.

 

May.

On May 1st a fine male Dotterel flew against the telegraph-wires at Kilnsea.

3rd.—Found two Woodcocks' nests, four eggs in each just hatching. Several pairs breed in this wood, and sit so close that if one wants to move them they have to be poked off the nest with a stick. They harmonize so beautifully with the surrounding dead leaves and grass that they are most difficult to detect. One was a much more golden-coloured bird than the other.

6th.—Moore and I found several Redshanks' nests, and eight Snipes'. Working with sixty feet of pneumatic tubing, Moore got a beautiful photograph of a Snipe on her nest. We found several Wild Ducks' nests, a Teal's, and a Shoveler's; there were four pairs of the latter birds in this locality, thanks to the protection now afforded them. The nests are most carefully concealed in thick tussocks, and have a regular run in, a foot or more in length, under the grass, from the place where the birds alight. When lying down in cover we had two drakes, looking lovely in the sunshine, fly within twenty yards of us. Several of the Redshank's eggs had been destroyed by Carrion Crows. Heard the Grasshopper Warbler, and saw several Adders.

9th.— Dug out a nest of four young Moles, about half-grown.

16th.— Green Woodpecker's nest containing two eggs; Coal Tit's, containing twelve eggs, well covered up; all the Tits cover their eggs. Put up a Nightjar, which flew into a Scotch fir, and squatted, as they always do, lengthwise along a bough.

17th.—Found a Hawfinch's nest with eggs. Waterhen's with young on the top of a reed-fence five feet from the ground.

22nd.—Several Tree-Sparrows' nests in an old orchard. Longeared Owl's with young in an old Magpie's nest.

27th.—A fine Allis Shad, weighing 6 lb. 2 oz., was brought to me. It had been caught in a Salmon net not far from York. These fish rarely come up the Derweut so far nowadays.

28th.—Young Magpies out of the nest. In some of the market-gardens about here they do damage to the strawberry-beds, eating the fruit just before it gets ripe.

29th.—Metcalfe and I found several Reed Bunting's, Lark's, Meadow Pipit's, and Whinchat's nests. It has been asserted in the pages of 'The Zoologist' that the latter bird is not double-brooded, but it is undoubtedly so here. The customs and habits of birds differ in different localities. Nearly all the Sky-Larks' nests contained three eggs. I look upon this as the usual clutch in Yorkshire; often there are four, but very rarely indeed five.

31st.—Found eggs of the Black-headed Gull. This colony, almost our last in the county, is, I am glad to say, holding its own, thanks to the protection afforded by the owner of the estate. It used to be ruthlessly harried, the eggs taken regularly, and it is a wonder that it has survived. The Wild Birds Protection Act is very often a mere farce, and were it not that private enterprise frequently steps in, it would be a complete failure. Moore got a photo of a Redshank on her nest. The camera was most carefully covered up, and he was working with a hundred yards of fishing-line tied to the trigger, and hiding behind a clump of gorse; but he had to wait five hours before she came back, and then he got a shot at her. A Cuckoo's egg, ordinary type, much incubated, in a Hedge-Sparrow's nest.

 

June.

1st.—An old Rook, well powdered with white on the breast and back, got at Cottingwith.

3rd.—A fine old cock Crossbill, caught in a Magpie-trap at Thornton-dale, was brought to me by Mr. R. Hill, which I stuffed.

6th.—Moore and I went to photograph the Black-headed Gulls on their nests, and were most successful. I never thought they would face the camera; as the marsh took us up nearly to our middles, and we had to lash sticks on to the tripod, leaving the camera several feet above the water; then we screened it with green boughs of birch, and worked with one hundred yards of fine Trout-line. We got some beauties.

8th.—Moore tried to photograph a Turtle-Dove on her nest, but, though he waited five hours for the bird to come back, and the camera was so well concealed that three boys going to bathe passed within a couple of yards of it, and never noticed it, yet the bird would not return. They are most difficult birds to photograph on the nest.

10th.—Metcalfe got three lovely photographs of a Common Sandpiper on her nest, in three different positions.

12th.—Went with Moore to photograph the nest and eggs of the Great Crested Grebe. I am glad to say these birds have increased considerably. If only we had had another ten feet of pneumatic tubing we should have got the old bird on the nest. We had the keeper up a tree ready to whistle to us when she settled, and she came close up several times; but most unfortunately she could just see our heads above a bank, where we were lying with our legs in the water. We were miles from home, and had to get back that night; and so we failed through want of a few feet of tubing. Found a Grasshopper-Warbler's nest with young.

19th.— Moore and I made a day's journey to get a Reed Warbler on her nest. Were most successful. Got her in four different positions coming on to the nest. I believe these, like the Redshank and Lapwing, are unique. Found several nests; some just finished, some with four fresh eggs, some with hard-set eggs. Also Moore got a very pretty photo of a Pheasant on her nest, using a long-focus lens. Saw a pair of Tufted Ducks, but had no time to look for the nest.

23rd.—Went down into Holderness for a night to enquire into the ruthless destruction that has been going on amongst our last remaining colony of Lesser Terns. While the watcher was on, appointed by the County Council, the birds increased in number; but now the trippers, who come over by steamer from Grimsby, work sad havoc amongst them. One man alone took thirty-eight eggs back with him. The lighthousemen and the local policeman do what they can, but unless a proper watcher is again put on, as he most certainly ought to be, the birds are doomed. I found them so shy that they keep high up in the air, leaving their eggs to the heat of the sun and sand during the daytime, and only returning to them at dusk, when their enemies have departed. It is really iniquitous that our last remaining colony in the county of these pretty little birds should be so harried, and strong measures ought to be taken at once to ensure their breeding in peace. Was very glad to find a Shelduck sitting hard in a Rabbit-burrow on the sand-hills. Great numbers of Corn-Buntings about.

30th.—Metcalfe got a splendid photograph of a Golden Plover on her nest.

 

July.

1st.—A fine Trout caught at Thorntondale, weighing 2½ lb.

10th.—Moore and I went to take a Nightjar on her eggs, which were just upon hatching. Working with sixty feet of pneumatic tubing, we got six good shots at her in various positions in a little over an hour; then we left her in peace. The difficulty was to keep her off the eggs. She was back again after each changing of the plates in a very short time. I wish someone would invent a method of changing plates without the operator having to leave cover—as, for instance, on pulling a string, the exposed plate to slip down into a compartment, and a new one pushed forward into position by a spring, or something of that sort.

11th.—Saw a curiously marked Fox-cub, having three large white stockings (one hind leg and both fore legs), and a large white patch on the back of the head, the size of the palm of a man's hand. Had a live Hawfinch brought to me that had been caught eating peas. I am sorry to say that many get shot in gardens owing to this habit.

13th.—Heavy storm; some lumps of ice fell as big as Blackbird's eggs, doing a great amount of damage.

15th.—Saw a curious Jackdaw with cinnamon-coloured wings.

19th.—Found a Little Grebe's nest containing three eggs. The nest was made of the following plants:—(1) Sparganium ramosum, branched bur-reed; (2) Potamogeton rufescens, red pondweed; (3) P. densus, close-leaved pondweed; (4) Anacharis alsinastrum, water-thyme; (5) Sium angustifolium, water-parsnip; (6) Hippuris vulgaris, marestail; (7) Equisetum arvense, barren stem of common horsetail; (8) Fontinalis antipyretica, great water-moss. These were most kindly identified for me by Mr. M.B. Slater, F.L.S., of Malton.

21st.—Stuffed a Whiskered Bat.

24th.—Lying up in cover at dusk with a friend, we had seven Badgers, four old and three young, playing about within forty yards of us. (See the 'Field,' Feb. 3rd, 1900, for full account of the Badger in Yorkshire.) Would have given much to have been able to photograph them, but the light was gone for this purpose.

 

August.

August was a very hot month. Grouse have done well on nearly all the Yorkshire moors, and the young birds are fine and strong on the wing. An Osprey was shot on the 29th near Filey. Two young Dotterels at Easington, Holderness, on the 22nd.

 

September.

September was also very hot. Partridges are plentiful. Over a small farm I and a friend shot eighteen brace; but here where we used to get fifteen or twenty Hares in a day fifteen years ago, now we never see one. I was over at Flamborough for a few days, and far out at sea saw many Skuas, mostly Arctic Skuas. An immature Sabine's Gull was shot here at the end of the month. A Great Snipe was obtained at Thorntondale, and another at Beverley, and near the latter place also a fine young Black-tailed Godwit, and a Greenshank. Mr. Stuart, the wellknown birdstuffer of that town, tells me that a Wood Sandpiper was shot at Aike Beck End, on the river Hull, at the beginning of the month. Several Black Terns were observed off Bridlington, and some were shot. The large spring migration of these birds that has been noticed near Hemsworth for the last few years was not observed this year.

 

October.

When Pheasant-shooting on the 2nd put up a Landrail. A fine Honey Buzzard was obtained near Beverley. I regret deeply that another fine Osprey was shot near Scarborough. An archangel would have no chance in these days. Common Buzzard, Little Gull, Sandwich Tern, and Pomatorhine Skua were obtained at Bridlington. On the 14th a beautiful white Weasel was shot at Whixley by Mr. H. Pexton; it had normal coloured eyes, and was of a very pure white. These varieties of the Weasel are very scarce; this is only the second that I have seen. Mr. Allen, the well-known York taxidermist, showed me a young Rat, which cannot have been more than six weeks old, in which the upper incisors had either been broken completely away, or had never been; but the lower ones had grown and curled to the length of nearly two inches—a remarkably rapid growth. Had a white Mole sent to me, which I stuffed. Was away at the Lincolnshire flight-nets at the end of the month.

 

November.

A Gray Phalarope got at the Teesmouth, Nov. 19th, shot with a pistol. A Red-necked Phalarope obtained at Easington, Holderness, on the 8th. Several Whooper Swans in Bridlington Bay. Green Sandpipers about. In the middle of the month I was down on the Humber. At a certain spot there were great numbers of our commonest Wild Goose—the Pink-footed. I saw one huge mass of them, in which there cannot have been much fewer than a thousand birds; they arrive early in September, and remain throughout the winter. About 8 o'clock every morning, making a great noise, long skeins of them fly over North Cave Vicarage, where my friend the Rev. W. M. Tomlinson lives, on their way to feed on the stubbles, &c, on the wolds. One morning, with his Rook-rifle, Tomlinson fired at the leading bird, which was a great height up, and a big field's distance from the garden. He hit the third bird, and down it came. We had it in a pie, and excellent it was. I preserved the skin for him, as a memento of a wonderful shot. In such mild open weather we were quite unable to get near the birds on the Humber with a punt and big gun. On the 25th, when Pheasant shooting, I was surprised to see a large Frog hopping about in the middle of a wood as merrily as if it were June. Saw two Woodcock.

 

December.

During December we had some very severe weather. Mr. Moody, falconer to Mr. W.H. St. Quintin, of Scampston, saw several Bean Geese at Lowthorpe, and about fifty Whooper Swans at Scampston. Two Bewick's Swans were obtained at Leyburn, and a Brent Goose on the Swale, near Thirsk. A wild Gadwall, a very scarce Duck in the county, was obtained near Scampston. I am very sorry to have to record the slaughter of five Bitterns—two near Scarborough, one near Beverley, one at Easington, Holderness, and one at Lowthorpe. Several Little Auks were got on the coast, and one was put out of a hedge-bottom and caught by a Dog about three miles from York. Towards the end of the month vast numbers of Duck were on the Humber, many flying actually into the village of Easington, in which district one man alone shot thirty to his own gun in a single day. Many Duck also came inland, and great quantities of Dunlin within ten miles of York. A wild Peregrine Falcon was observed near Scampston feeding on a Mistle-Thrush.

I cannot close these notes without referring to the very great loss all ornithologists have sustained, and especially we in Yorkshire, by the all too early deaths of Mr. John Cordeaux and Mr. H. Bendelack Hewetson during this year. They were both personal friends of mine, and both took the greatest interest in all that pertained to the bird-life of the county. Many a ramble have I had with them both with gun and field-glass in the most favoured bird resorts of the county which they both loved so well; and it seems strange now, when I visit these places, not to hear their cheery voices, and to be told by them all the latest bird news. Well, we must all come to it sooner or later, and we shall do well if, like them, we leave a few footprints behind us, however small, before we ourselves are summoned to join them in the Happy Hunting Grounds.