Farming Diary by Tarja Wilson, land management advisor, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority:
I HAD a choice of getting up at 4.30 am or driving to the location the evening before to allow a more relaxed start to the day.
The job was to carry out a breeding wader bird survey - and the best time to do it was from about an hour after sunrise to just before midday.
Waders are declining nationally. The upland in-bye farmland in the Westmorland Dales and the rest of the national park provide key habitat.
I chose to go up the evening before and I’m glad I did, as I spotted short-eared owls hunting low over allotments. To top it all, as I took a short evening wander, another short-eared owl rose out of the tall vegetation to fend off two crows, and a barn owl settled above the door of a nearby barn.