A dance before dawn

The swaggering spectacle of the blackcock lek is an astonishing piece of natural theatre that few are fortunate enough to witness

- ADRIAN DANGAR

MY VISIT to the northern Pennines begins with a magical mystery tour of a grouse moor in Upper Teesdale that is home to a staggering variety of birdlife. In addition to the ubiquitous red grouse and meadow pipits we see, during the course of just a few hours, dozens of curlew, golden plover, oystercatchers, a merlin and wheatears, all of which breed on the estate. Along with the nests of several rare waders, we are shown one containing four conker-brown kestrel eggs perched precariously on the edge of a sheer cliff, and on the walk home - the icing on the cake of a memorable afternoon - a pair of entwined adders copulating in a sieve bed.

I am part of a small group of conservationists for whom this is not just a visual experience but an educational one too. I am sure most Field readers know that oysters rarely feature on an oystercatcher's menu, but are you aware that their propensity for stealing the eggs of other birds along with their striking black-and-white markings has earned them the sobriquet 'sky badger'? Or that the gorgeous swirly-speckled gems laid by golden plover are larger in relation to the adult's size than the eggs of any other wader? Around 230 pairs of breeding curlew return to nest here every spring, and throughout the afternoon the sky has cackled with their beguiling mewing. But although undeniably lovely, it is not curlew we have come to see.