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Most of our usual birds have bred successfully and there have been increased records of both barn and little owls in the area. Skylarks have been proved to breed with success locally for the first time for years - due particularly to set-aside, and this has also resulted in an increased population of lapwing. The curlew reported just outside the village last year have been present again and have bred. A water rail has been present for the summer, but there is no report of attempted breeding.
More proof that the otters are using an increased length of the Gypsey Race has been seen, with spraints (excrement) having been found, in suitable places along the bank side almost to Bridlington. There have, however, been no positive sightings of the creatures themselves.
A visit from the East Yorkshire Bat Group, complete with detecting equipment, confirmed the presence of pipistrelle, brown long-eared and Daubenton's bats in the area, and also added a further species, the whiskered bat, to our local list. Several colonies of each species were found except for Daubenton's bat, for which there seems to be only one single colony.
Several mammal tubes have been left baited by the side of the Gypsey Race, looking in particular for water shrews, but as yet there has been no positive result. The experiment is continuing. The creature to go almost unreported this year has been the hedgehog. There have, however, been more reports than ever of both stoats and weasels, complete with their offspring.
Among a few reports of our local dragonflies and damselflies, a new species to the area, the migrant hawker dragonfly, Aeshna mixta, has been caught, identified, and released unharmed. The dragonfly was closely followed by a migrant moth rarely seen locally,
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