Ogden Water and Mixenden Res

A greyer cooler session this morning. A GCG or perhaps the same bird seen earlier this week was on Ogden along with 4 drake Tufted Duck.

2 Cormorant dropped in as I did just over half the circuit, passing a Grey Heron in Skirden Clough.

The usual gulls were presen in lower numbers than of late.

1 each Mistle & Song Thrush, 1 WW ditto Swallow.

Nothing on the drink at Mixenden. 1 screaming Jay heard and a pr Pied Wagtail flitting around.

Warm Wainstalls Walk

Very warm and hardly any breeze. Got my first annual UK Spotted Flycatcher looked like a dispersal given the location.

The pair of brooding Stonechat were once again very active.

1 Greenfinch, 14 Linnet & a few Goldfinch. 7/8 Swallows.

Haigh Cote Dam was rotten with Canadas and Greylags also a female Tufted Duck with 5 very young Tuftlings.

3 Blackbird, 2 Pied Wagtail, few House Sparrows ditto Meadow Pipit. 

1 adult Lapwing 😊.

Mixenden Res To Ogden Water

Circumstance made for a route reversal this morning and after an awful start at Mixenden Res things picked up big time at the bottom of Hunter Hill 👍.

A Lesser-spotted Woodpecker flew over calling twice, landed in a sycamore tree, called again then flew toward Stod Fold the small size stood out notably 😁.

I got to Ogden Water and saw the Common Scoter seen earlier by BS immediately. It took me a while to clinch the GCG but in the meantime I saw a YLG in with a gang of LBBG. Also a pair of Tufted Duck ditto Oystercatcher.

Song Thrush, Blackcap and noisy Raven.

Ogden To Mixenden Again

A slightly fresher day. Ogden was heaving with the usual Gullage on the Ullage. One drake Tufted Duck spotted.

The golf course and adjacent area coughed up 3 WW, 2 Whitethroat, 11 Linnet plus a morsel or three of House Martin and Swallow.

Not a sausage on Mixenden Res. 7 Swift noisily whizzing around the nearby houses.

Very Warm Edge Dams

Not Cold by any means at Wainstalls this morning.

Just Canadas and a few BHG on the dams.

Pr of agitated Stonechat, 1 each Reed Bunting & WW.

4 each Pied Wagtail & Blackbird. Several Meadow Pipit, a few Swallow and a couple of Goldfinch.

Ogden Water To Mixenden

A hot one today that brought hundreds of visitors to Ogden.

I couldn’t pick out YLG from the numerous gulls present and I ended up finding out a suspected one turned out to be a Herring.

3 Oystercatcher seen and 2 Grey Heron. Pr Tufted Duck. Blackcap and Chiffchaff in the trees.

A Skylark over the golf course.

Mixenden Res had 6 Greylag and 4 Swift flying noisily around Clough Lane.

Cold Edge Disaster Mitigation

A gale was in full swing from the W not the forecast moderate wind at Cold Edge. The birding was abysmal so I tried rescuing the session by heading down to Ogden Water.

Cold Edge birds: A few Swallows, 1 Pied Wagtail, handful of Goldfinch, c12 Meadow Pipits.

I heard a couple of weak wader type calls at distance so will let that one slide.

A Stonechat was alarm calling from a wall by the old Withens Pub.

The YLG previously seen by BS was in the middle of the water at Ogden hence these poor quality photos. Apart from the LBBGs & BHGs a sub adult phase Common Gull was present.

3 drake Tufted Duck still there. The trees coughed up a Blackcap a Nuthatch & 2 Chiffchaff.