FIRST, to follow up a report from my last article, I have now seen pictures of the reported little bunting and it was indeed this rare Scandinavian species. It visited a bird table in a Constable Burton garden on a number of occasions over the winter and all credit to the householders for realising they had a rarity on their hands.

Fortunately, they were able to obtain photographs to confirm the sighting, the first local record and one of only a handful of over-wintering little buntings ever recorded in Britain.

This wasn't the only national rarity to make an appearance, with a report of a pair of glossy ibis seen on the Ure not far from West Tanfield. Unfortunately, they flew off before the finder could photograph them but it isn't beyond possibility they are somewhere in the area still. They tend to favour particular roost sites but will range widely to feed.

So, if you see a pair of birds flying over looking vaguely like bulky all-dark curlews, please let me know!

Near the end of the month I also received an interesting sighting of two white storks in the Yafforth area. It is quite possible that these were genuinely wild birds but the situation is clouded by free-flying birds from Harewood House, near Leeds, which occasionally stray up to this part of Yorkshire.

The latest information I have is there are currently three unclipped storks at Harewood, one of which never leaves the bird garden, another which generally only makes short forays and a third which regularly leaves the site and has been seen as far away as Northumberland and Manchester.

This latter bird carries a green plastic ring so, if you are ever lucky enough to stumble across a stork, it may be useful to look first at its left leg!

Not unexpectedly, given the beautiful weather, the first summer migrants were in evidence. The first was a very early sand martin at Bellflask Quarry in the first week of March but by the month end there were also good numbers of chiffchaffs reported along with wheatear, singing blackcap and the first little ringed plovers. Waxwings continued to make an appearance and there were up to eight birds around Leeming Bar industrial estate and a flock of over a dozen birds feeding on rose-hips in a Danby Wiske garden.

Nosterfield, as usual, provided some highlights during March; these included a red kite, up to five white-fronted geese, a female smew and in the gull roost at this site, kittiwake, Iceland and Mediterranean gull.

Finally, other sightings of note included a drake smew and a red-crested pochard in the Bolton-on-Swale area along with five whooper swans and up to 15 pinkfooted geese and a fine Slavonian grebe at Cleasby gravel pits.