While I was disappointed in my search for eagles, another of Patrick Brontë’s entries in Bewick’s A History of British Birds caused great excitement. In a tiny margin note next to Bewick’s engraving of an elegant little black bird with white-trimmed feathers, he wrote: “I saw a pair of ring ouzels, in Haworth mountains.” Even more thrilling, the Parsonage Research Library had an original pencil sketch by 10-year-old Emily Brontë that faithfully copied Bewick’s illustration. All of the Brontë children copied engravings from Bewick’s book, sometimes using the descriptions to add colour. But this simple black-and-white drawing by Emily really moved me. I wondered if she’d chosen to copy a bird she was familiar with?

I’ve yet to see a ring ouzel in the wild, and these Red-listed summer visitors are tricky to find now. My partner spent a whole day at Stanage Edge in the Peak District searching for one this spring, and was eventually rewarded with a couple of shy glimpses. They nest in the uplands, in steep-sided valleys and crags, and feast on moorland berries before migrating back to Africa. ‘Ouzel’ is the old English word for blackbird, but if you’re lucky enough to hear a ring ouzel, you’ll notice they sound very different. The ring ouzel has a telephone-like ‘ring-ring’ call, but his name comes from the distinctive white mark on his chest.

I chose this patch of Penistone Hill for the ring ouzel to make a guest appearance, because during my summer residency, this side of the hill was covered in bilberries. Their reddening leaves beside the purple heather and gleaming rowan berries were spectacular.