Our first migrants have started to return to the uplands here in the dale. A male ring ouzel was seen on the east side on 21 March having arrived overnight along with two male wheatears. This has equalled our earliest date recorded which was in 2012. Ring ouzels spend their winter in North Africa and are one of the earliest returnees along with wheatears.
The ring ouzels are now pairing up and establishing territories. The simple and melancholy song of the male is well worth listening to as you walk around the old railway line. It is a bird in decline in England but we have seen no sign of that here in Rosedale and elsewhere on the North York Moors. A very distinctive bird with its white gorget or bib. The males are black and the females, as pictured here, are brown. Updale Natural History Recorder

Female ring ouzel