“The first Belstone Dawn Chorus walk took place in 2003 and it is still going strong. This year the walk, led as usual by Chris Walpole, leaves Belstone Village Hall at 5.30am on Saturday 11 May and follows a varied route around the parish, through woods, across fields, along lanes and over the open moor. We always manage to see or hear somewhere between 35 and 40 species and with a bit of luck this time our list could well include cuckoo, swallow, stonechat, redstart and various warblers. Wear your walking boots for the rough bits and bring your binoculars and ‘Merlin’ (that’s the bird-identifying app), but please leave your four-legged friends at home. We should be back at the Hall for an ‘all-you-can-eat’ breakfast of cereals, toast and bacon rolls by 8am. Suggested donations of £5 for the walk or £10 for the walk and breakfast will be gratefully received for Hall funds.
Chris adds: ‘The cuckoo wasn’t calling when I followed some of the dawn chorus route on 22 April but I did manage to take this photo of a red kite which suddenly appeared very close to me near the track to Cullever Steps – I think it must have been on the ground. Maybe it will still be around on 11 May. The other photo shows us all on last year’s walk trying to spot the cuckoo in the mist’.”
Chris Walpole
Red Kite over East Okement Valley near Scarey Tor
