Around the equinox

The yellowhammer was a beauty. Clearly seen upon slender stems, it was a step back in time. The first and only occasion that I saw one was when I was about 11. It was simply beautiful. A slim bunting shape with bright yellow plumage dominating its colouring. It looked so alive. Skylarks were about, though, in the heavy grey skies, they were hard to spot. They can and do soar quite high. But hearing them was never in question. Eventually, we saw one fluttering and dipping above us. And then linnets fluttered about. The chiff chaff announced it was here by saying precisely chiff chaff.

These names evoke rural charm and Englishness in me. And childhood. It was exciting to witness all this, along with three jays whose eponymous call distinguishes it from other members of its family, the duller ones. But some birds remain elusive. Other rangers have reported the lesser spotted woodpecker and on the last two or three of our patrols, it has lived up to its name. But Ian is not daunted as he tries to lure an appearance by imitating the bird. First find the wood and then use an appropriate striker.

But to no avail.

The rotunda is now well clad in scaffolding and sprouts the new timber dome support. It is to be clad in a metal, which with weathering, will look like lead, but is not lead. Not doubt the roof will attract the interest of nefarious persons who see or hear of it as fair game to illegally line a pocket or two. We shall see but in the short term access to and around the monument is difficult and, after rain, very muddy.

Although much restoration work is very visible and quite short term, it should not be forgotten that there is much that has gone on and will continue to develop over years. In the house's later life in the latter half of the twentieth century, much wood land was cleared to win the coal that lay beneath. Open cast mining cleared both Broomroyd Wood and Ivas Wood of much of its original stock of trees. Some say it was a socialist backlash against the old Tory owners after Barnsley council bought the place after World War Two. At that time, in the post war 1940s, fuel in the UK was in short supply, so every available resource was tapped. These areas now have been replanted and the original driveways are cut, modelled upon the woods as they looked to the Wentworths, but the sites do not yet look like woodland. Young whips have now established themselves and now sprout branches and, of course as spring moves on, buds will yield new leaf.


The parkland begins to take on its new colours and sounds. As April approaches, spring will surely take off big time.

Woodcock confirmed

The bird we spotted last week is now confirmed as a woodcock.

It had't been seen again despite Ian making another visit, and our brief flushing today failed to set one up. But research and, perhaps more significantly, that an eye witness confirmation of a woodcock seen in that area, is sufficient to claim it and for the bird to be officially spotted. The expert witness was Gary. Gary is employed by the trust as caretaker but he a true birder and therefore a most reliable witness.

The exciting spot this week were a pair of buzzards, drifting along at tree top height out of Raven Holt, a tongue of woodland, and over to Rockley.

In another sense of spot, one of the most pleasant places to stop and sit is by the rotunda. With views towards the house in one direction, the parkland in another, it sits upon a small hill in now cleared woodland. It makes an excellent view point.

The current view of this monument is, however, at present, sheathed in scaffolding. The Rotunda, or temple in the park, is undergoing serious restoration. The doors have been opened and hard hats and high visibility jackets are flitting around the site.

The Rotunda, with a date stone inscribed 1746, was one of the embellishments at Wentworth Castle added by William Wentworth. I have previously mentioned the Monument to his father in law, the Duke of Argyll. Like many wealthy young men of the time, he did the Grand Tour as it became known. Young English elites of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often spent two to four years traveling around Europe in an effort to broaden their horizons and learn about language, architecture, geography, and culture and the experience became known as the Grand Tour. The Grand Tour began in the sixteenth century and gained popularity during the seventeenth century.

In much the same way as we might bring back a souvenir to remind us of a visit to some place of future fond memory, William brought back a building. Not literally of course - no Ryanair restrictions but he ceartinly brought back the idea. His idea for the Rotunda is thought to be based on the Temple of Hercules at Tivoli, near Rome. There were many temples dotted around and the favourite source is now thought to be the Temple of Sybil at Tivoli, near Rome. Such temples seem to have been quite thick on the ground, most of them similar in layout. The legacy of that idea that tourists in Rome are keen to bring something home lives on, though today it might take the form of models of the Coliseum, baseball caps and AC Milan replica shirts.

The parkland is warming up now. And soon the bluebells will strike out and provide some vivid colour. We, as rangers, are able to line up where the richest carpets will be.

In like a lion......not quite

The old maxim regarding March is that it comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Today, you could be forgiven thinking that the opposite applies. For those who do not know the metaphorical reference, the animals represent the wind - roaring in early March and becoming gentler at the end of the month.

There were a few more faces in the parkland today. And, once again, a bit of noise. I was determined to learn more about birds and was lucky to have pointed out birds such as treecreeper and greater spotted woodpecker, two birds who patently demonstrate their name in their behaviour. The very range of size was represented by the tiny wren, both heard and seen, and the heron seen in flight and standing.

Today, was simply a lamb of a spring afternoon. There were even the presence of those harbingers - lambs bleating away for their mothers and lambs pushing away at udders of milk and being neither caring whose udders they belonged to. Such was the vibrancy of new life.
As these lambs sported newly daubed badges of identity, this, too, was the first patrol on which we wore our new identity; not a painted number but a scarlet red sweatshirt and volunteer badge.

It was a good day for birds. Ian, my birding colleague, is building his Stainborough list. Birders like lists. Birders build lists on many levels. Levels is not the word I want. Geographers study at different scales, from global to local, and I guess birders do the same. Ian has his world list, a life list, a British list, a garden list and, each year, a year list. He now has a Stainborough list. He is attacking the list with zeal. Today was a good day for his Stainborough list.

Towards the end of the patrol, we walked over some tussocky grasses on a plantation between Queen Anne monument and the Serpentine bridge. As we walked, with me slightly in front, ahead, by only feet, in the with a loud whirring of wings, a brownish bird took flight, both figuratively and literally.

Not having a clear sight, due to the suddenness, what is was was up for discussion. The agreed most likely suspect was a woodcock. Its a bit like detective work. Gradually from a few clues, a likely range of suspects is built up. The current crimewatch favourite is a biggish, brown bird, remaining hidden from view, that rears up suddenly, flies a short distance and disappears again in the not too short grassy parkland. The woodcock's face will be on all the posters, unless it comes forward to clear its name. Next week,we hope to reconstruct the crime, where I will walk the same walk in the same place, but with Ian waiting to see what will be flushed out. Make sure to check our birdwatch update.

The new fence line next to the Rotunda is providing a much better view over the lower parkland. The fence, now sweeping along lower down the slope, achieves the effect of a ha-ha.