A Swallow Lifts The Spirits

Ogden Water today was very drab with just a pr Herring Gull & a LBBG seen. The woods produced 5 Chiffchaff & a Song Thrush as well as the expected Tits.

I sat down on a promenade bench for a break and am so glad I did. A Barn Swallow flew across from E to W struggling in the headwind. This is my earliest ever record in the UK 😁.

21 Curlew were at the usual fields near Stod Fold. I saw 4 mebbe 5 Peacock Butterflies around Brookhouse.

I have noticed on the last 3 outings that in Queensbury and the areas I visit Greenfinch are being seen and heard more frequently than in the past few years.

Soil Hill And Ogden Area

Soilage tops only. Chaffinches Goldfinches couple Greenfinch. 3 Curlew 7/8 Meadow Pipit 4 Skylark couple LBBG. Pr Grey Partridge seen again 😊.

I got a txt from DJS about a Whooper Swan while on my way to Ogden Water. It was still present when I arrived.  Gotta admit from this distant photo the bird looks to be short necked with enough black on the bill to make me think of Bewick's as I processed it.

Also 2 f Goosander & a pr Tufted Duck. A Song Thrush and Chiffchaff observed and JL chatted with.

Got my first Dipper in quite some time in Hebble Brook at Stod Fold 👍.

Usuall Route Soil Hill etc

A pleasant dry day with overcast skies but thankfully no wind. Soil Hill was over the tops only. My first pr Grey Partridge the year which I saw twice during the stint there.

A pr Greenfinch, 3 Chaffinch ditto Skylark. Distant Curlews, singing 🎵 Mistle Thrush, couple Blackbird ditto Pheasant.

Ogden water: a total of 4 singing 🎵 Chiffchaff 👍. Pr Tufted Duck ditto Canadas. Pr Blackbird. The Raven called.

6 LBBG 2 Herring & 1 Common Gull. Many Woodpigeon seen throughout the walk and a Brown Hare.

Mixenden Res was poor again but it did cough up a singing Chiffchaff.

Great Unexpectations Ogden Water

Arrived at Ogden in more windy conditions and not too positive about seeing birds 😏. However I did get off to a fair start; the Chiffchaff was singing from the same spot and I got my first Greenfinch in some time - a pair of them 😊.

I nearly had an apoplectic episode just after departing ducky corner on the W bank. A pr of Redshank were stood on the shoreline 😜. They saw me, gave a couple of calls and took flight low over the water towards Skirden Clough. I took another thirty odd paces up the path when lo and behold a Redshank took off from under a bush on the shoreline and flew in the direction of where the pair had just left i.e the corner 👍.

No matter how I permutate this I have to conclude there were 3 birds present which is a first here for me .

A Buzzard called. 3/4 Common Gull were on the drink along with c16 larger gulls including 2 LBBG ditto Herring. No BHG seen guess they have headed for their breeding areas. A pair of Canada seen. A Mistle Thrush was singing 🎵.

Wednesday A Disaster Thursday Almost

2 successive days of mind bending Westerlies 😢. Wednesday spent at Crapstone Edge and 💩 Shiteholme.

The gusting wind scoured the area clean except for a pr Canada & a pr Greylag. 5/6 singing Skylark, c17 singing displayin Meadow Pipit & a couple Crows oh how dare I forget a Magpie!

Today Thursday at Cold Edge: 1 drake Goosander, 2 pr Tufted Duck. A dozen Greylag & c 30 Canada. 3 Pied Wagtail, 4 Lapwing & 5 Curlew. Mebbe 8 Meadow Pipit & 2 Skylark. 1 LBBG only on Mixenden Res.

Soil Hill Ogden Water Mixenden Res

A long slog today in decent dry weather taught me yet again that old age cannot be reversed. Soil Hill was a bind and if any common sense kicks in I won’t be doing it again. A look around the bottom bog had to be scrapped because of the aforementioned but also because machinery has chewed the land up creating barriers and mud baths.

1 Kestrel, 5 Skylark, 2 Moorhen, 1 each Meadow Pipit Curlew & Lapwing.

A couple more Curlew at Ogden plantation with a calling Raven overhead.

The woods at Ogden were busy mainly with singing common Tit species but I did get my first Chiffchaff of the year 😊. 3 Blackbird 🐦‍⬛ seen. Only a few gulls on the water of mixed sizes.

A very interesting sight was at the Skirden Clough channel where I witnessed 12 fat 🐸 🐸 s depositing uggins of spawn.

A Meadow Pipit and couple Curlew at Stod Fold. 4 Roe Deer here plus 5 seen at the earlier stages of the trek.

Mixenden Res not worth a mention.

Cold Edge To Mixenden Res

The much hyped rainfall failed to materialise 😊. This trip was an improvement on my last visit here by a whisker or three.

Curlew were thinly widespread and busy calling. 3 Lapwing seen including a pair acting territorially.

1 each Oystercatcher and my first Redshank of the year.

2 Skyark, 7 Meadow Pipit. 1 Blackbird. 2 Goldfinch. 1 Chaffinch ditto Dunnock.

4 Greylag & c30 Canada in the fields. Both dams were full of water only.

Mixenden Res didn’t have anything on the water. The woods were generally quiet - 2 Blackbird 1 Coal Tit & a loudly guffawing Green Woodpecker.