A startled robin stares straight to camera, a herd of red deer stand at the alert, and a pair of cranes take a constitutional in a field, in these remarkable images, all taken in north and east Yorkshire over the last couple of weeks by Press photographers.

Cranes are incredibly rare in northern England. Press snapper David Harrison spotted this pair on low-lying farmland not far from the Humber. According to Chris Collett of the RSPB, there are only three pairs of cranes in the whole of Yorkshire at the moment – and only one of those is breeding.

The birds were common in medieval times, Chris says: but land drainage saw them disappear.

They are fairly common in Europe, dividing their time between Scandinavia and flying down to Spain to breed. But there are now a few pairs in East Anglia. The Yorkshire birds have probably come from there, he believes. But in the whole of the country, there are still only about 40 of the birds – and only six breeding pairs.

Robins are having a busy time of it at the moment. During the breeding season – which is to say, about now – they can have up to three lots of young. The bird pictured here, in a photo by Nigel Holland, is probably either feeding its first set of nestlings, or else preparing for its second, Chris says. So it can probably be forgiven its anxious mother expression.

A red deer herd the size of the one spotted by David Harrison in an East Yorkshire field is not that common a sight. David believes they may have escaped from a farm, and be running wild. Terry Smithson of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust thinks that is unlikely. As far as he is aware, there are no wild red deer in this part of Yorkshire – so they are more likely to be farmed deer, he believes.

- And finally, over in Harrogate, Matt Clark snapped this rather dreamy shot of someone walking along The Stray, with the cherry blossom in full bloom. Oh, to be in England, now that spring is here….