THE most intriguing sighting during February was a massive bird of prey seen in flight over Aiskew, Bedale. It was described as like a "flying barn door" by the lucky observers.

There is one spectacular species which perfectly fits this description, the White-tailed Eagle.

Despite a reintroduction programme for the species in Scotland they are extremely rare visitors to England so an unconfirmed sighting would have to stay just that. However this sighting occurred the day after a definite sighting of a White-tailed Eagle at Gouthwaite Reservoir in Nidderdale so surely must relate to the same bird. The bird was seen to circle up high and then drift off slowly north so it's possible the bird is still in the general area.

Otherwise February proved to be a rather quiet month for local birdwatchers. The local gull roosts turned up one or two interesting sightings, in particular the large roost in the Nosterfield area which attracted over 30,000 Black-headed Gulls and up to 2000 Common Gulls.

Scarcer species included at least two sightings of Yellow-legged Gulls, two different Mediterranean Gulls and an adult Iceland Gull. Wildfowl were also on the move with good numbers of Pinkfooted Geese seen flying over the area, the peak day was February 11 when three skeins totalling 331 birds were reported over Nosterfield and a flock of over 100 birds was seen flying north over Richmond. An impressive skein of 314 birds flew over Nosterfield a week later.

There were also the first early signs of spring with the now annual movement of Oystercatchers through the area. These are thought to be birds that breed in the Yorkshire Dales and upland areas of Lancashire. It has been noticeable that the main movement now occurs in late February whereas as recently as ten years ago the peak was in mid-March. Nosterfield and Thornton Steward Reservoir (near Newton-le-Willows) are the most favoured sites with counts this year of up to 82 and 84 birds respectively but 50 birds were also seen at Boltonon-Swale and smaller numbers passed through Marfield Quarry and Leighton Reservoir.

Other sightings of note during the month included two Redthroated Divers over Nosterfield and this site also attracted up to four Knot, interestingly this coastal species is now recorded annually in February. Up to 19 Whooper Swans were seen at the wintering site near Kirby Fleetham and a flock of 13 Ruff were seen with the large Curlew roost at Bolton-on-Swale where a long-staying Chiffchaff was still present at the time of writing.