Windy Cold Edge Dams

Winter still with us eh? The very fresh N’ly blow made the first half of the trek up to the old ruined house dull however things picked up on the return leg.

1 Wheatear, 3 very noisy Stonechat, 5 Linnet.

5 Curlew, 1 Redshank. An Oystercatcher heard briefly.

Pr Tufted Duck.

A pr of Lapwing in a field busy with Canadas and Greylags.

1 singing Song Thrush, 6 Blackbird, 4 WW, 8/9 Swallows.

A few scattered Meadow Pipits.

A Change Of Venue Low Moor

After a poor Monday at Ogden (Grey Heron x 2 + 3 LBBG and no maddening mystery vocalist) I opted for Harold Park and Park Dam this morning.

Another cracking day of January weather interspersed with the odd effort from March saw a very good number of Swallows at both locations. 3/4 House Martin sticking to Harold Park Lake.

1 GC Grebe at HPL and a courting pair at Park Dam which held 10 Mute Swan versus 1 on the park lake.

Coots have produced several young both on the Jug Dam and HP lake. It was interesting to see both parents of a brood of 6 attack both a Canada Goose and the Swan.

8 Tufted Duck on HPL and another 4 on Park Dam which also coughed up 4/5 Herring Gull and 13/14 LBBG.

 Couple of singing Greenfinch heard.

Ogden Water Mystery Singer Solved

Perseverance pays off. The singing bird that nearly drove me sane 🤓 was a Pied Flycatcher. My defence for not knowing sooner can be put down to: lack of familiarity in our area plus old age and ignorance. The joys of being a second rate birder spring to mind yet again Yer can’t knock me off the top spot that I have never occupied 😎.

A Bit More Action At Ogden

A day that brought back memories of January weather and for the first 35 minutes thoughts of nothing doing again! Usual culprits: Blackcap x 2 and WW plus Chiffchaff x 7 + 5. The Grey Heron was in the same area as the last visit.  

15 minutes before I hit the promenade it picked up considerably. The mystery singer was blasting away again so this time I took a sound recording to try and clarify the varmints identity.

I then got a pair of Swift not too high up and a Cuckoo calling from a distance. I stress it wasn’t the song From A Distance it was the location 🤓.

Also a Swallow, Mistle Thrush, Skylark & Whitethroat.

A Curlew and an Oystercatcher were at Hunter Hill.

Ogden To Mixenden Dull Session

A day more like March than May. Ogden Water had just a pair of Greylag Geese and a Grey Heron on the water. The trees held around 7 singing WW, 4 Chiffchaff and a couple of Blackcap. They also sported a loud singer I listened to for about 8 minutes without identifying it. I knew what to eliminate but even after plugging away with Xeno Canto at home I’m still no wiser.

A Whitethroat was singing about 40 yards W of the promenade end. A couple of WW singing by the golf course sheds.

Mixenden was really gash: 2 Chiffchaff and as I departed another Whitethroat belting away from a footpath bush.

A Long Whiteholme Walk

A warm session that, after a below average first half did produce some interesting birds 👍. A bit of surprise to see a drake Teal fly from a patch of heather near the shoreline

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Got my first Common Sandpiper of the year a pair of them.

Curlews limited to two distant birds calling briefly.

Enjoyed fair views of 2 Little-ringed Plover that caused me to speculate 🧐. They were at total opposite ends of the reservoir to each other.

3 Wheater watched for a while. A pair that always flew back to a certain area of rocks and a single male.

Also 2 Pied Wagtail, c22 Meadow Pipit and a good count of around 17 singing Skylark.

Horton Bank Country Park

A warm sunny afternoon where once again I was overlayered. On the other hand I wasn’t overwhelmed with birds e.g not a single hirundine present (there were no Swallows or Sand/House Martins seen either 🤓).

A Mute Swan pair have built their nest in a very vulnerable spot I can’t see it lasting long given the scumsuckers that gravitate there in the later hours 😏.

Singles Moorhen & Coot. 11 Canadas not a single Gull seen nor heard.

1 Whitethroat, 3 WW, 2 Chiffchaff. 

Couple Blackbird ditto Chaffinch & Robin.