Countryside writer Mike Bagshaw admits that he knows his birds

My fascination for birds goes right back to junior school days gazing out of the classroom window during sums. Ornithological passion has waxed and waned in the intervening years, but recently my interest has been re-vitalised thanks to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

This marvellous organisation is responsible for nearly 100 nature reserves scattered across the three Ridings of our county, seven of which happen to be in Ryedale. The trust has recruited a task force of enthusiastic volunteers to help manage their reserves, some of whom are working as bird surveyors.

The aim of a bird survey is to try to ascertain exactly how many pairs of each species of bird are breeding in a given area. Easy-peasy, I thought, I know my birds, I’ll have a go at that, and after signing up, off I went to Boroughbridge to take part in a training day at Staveley Nature Reserve.

Five minutes with the trust’s expert trainer made me realise that I had a bit to learn before I could be let loose on my own with a recording sheet. It turns out that it’s not just a case of looking through binoculars, spotting a chaffinch and ticking the appropriate box; each individual bird has to be marked on a map using code letters (CH for chaffinch), with additional symbols to denote male or female, flying or perched, singing or calling and even whether it’s carrying food or nesting material.

Most of the birds are hidden in the vegetation and need to be identified by voice alone. I wondered if I’d bitten off a bit more than I could chew.

A bit of practice later though, including brushing up on my Bird Songs On-line, and I felt I was ready for action. Each of the volunteers was allocated a reserve near where they live to visit six times during the summer. The reserve that I have been asked to survey is Chafer Wood, a long, thin strip of forest clinging to the steep sides of a ravine called Netherbydale, just north of Ebberston. It’s a place that I’d never been to before and on my first visit late last month I was enchanted by the place.

It was sunny and windless spring day; the floor beneath the still-bare trees was be-jewelled with constellations of yellow-starred celandines and white-starred anemones. The first bluebells were beginning to appear and various early butterflies were just finding their wings. Most noticeable of all, the morning air was absolutely full of birdsong.

After two visits, it’s becoming clear that wrens, blue tits and wood pigeons are the commonest inhabitants of Chafer Wood and at least four types of warbler have returned from their winter holidays in Africa. I haven’t seen any sparrowhawks or great spotted woodpeckers yet, but I know they are there because I’ve heard them, so can justifiably put SH and GS on my map in the estimated positions.

Chafer Wood is famous for its redstarts, a species rare on this side of the country, so I’ll be keeping eyes and ears peeled for them during May and June. I’m also looking forward to a late evening visit, midges permitting, when I can listen out for dusk-loving birds like owls, woodcocks and nightjars. There will also be bats galore no doubt, but they don’t count for the survey.

For more about Ryedale’s nature reserves, go to ywt.org.uk