I WONDER whether any other fell folk or visitors have notified an unusual and special visiting bird this winter - a white and grey-mottled larger falcon, a gyrfalcon?

Recently I watched one hunting jackdaws. They are not easy prey: intelligent, alert and often in flocks. These scattered flocks, like draughts of leaves on a gale, bend with the wind’s blusters over convex fells (like whales scattering petrels).

The gyrfalcon took a right and a left at the jackdaws - very unusual and spectacular.

I’m an independent naturalist and been studying the gyrfalcon since 1955 in Norway, Iceland, North America, Greenland and the British Isles. I have been writing about these magnificent birds since 1960.

And thank you for a well-balanced weekly newspaper.

Colin Simms

Garrigill