Queensbury Pinkfeet

Hell and damnation! I was conjuring up my next tirade about the paucity of birds in the parish when at 1115 hrs I stepped into my front garden only to be met by the sight and sounds of c30 Pink-footed Geese flying over the road and over DP's house heading > NW.
Drat and double Drat, Grrrrrrr.

Swillington Ings

Courtesy of DP. A different experience from the previous outing with the cold wind making us having to work hard for the birds resulting in some species escaping our beady eyes.

1 Kingfisher ditto GSW, pr Shelduck, f Goldeneye, c8 Goosander, 6 Pochard ditto Curlew. 1 Grey Heron, c12 Cormorant, numerous Teal, Tufted Duck & Wigeon, c15 Shoveler. Pintail down to one male.

Numerous Lapwing, c10 GBBG, few Herring Gull. 5 Reed Bunting, c10 LTT & a squadron of Redwing, 1 Stonechat.
Canada & Greylag in plague proportions.

Queensbury to Mixenden

When will I learn to abandon this boring barren avian wasteland?
Poxhill Park: few small Gull sp. mainly Common. 1 Greenfinch.

Soil Hell: 9 Meadow Pipit.
Poxden Res: Kestrel, 10 LTT, couple Goldfinch,  2 Miserable Thrush.

Goodbye Gioldeneye

Hello Goosandeer

Poxenden Res: 1 Miserable Thrush, 3 Goldeneye, 1 Goosander.

I checked Poxifax Bus Station bottom for Waxwing; nothing doing at 1325 hrs.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Not too exciting, in fact there were lots of birds I didn't see.
Greenfinch & a few Goldfinch bottom of Persecution Rd. 3 Meadow Pipit on Soil Hill.

Ogden Res: 2 GSW, 4 LTT & Chaffinch ditto Canada, Quite a few Blackbird en route to Stod Fold.

Mixenden Res: Cormorant, 3 Goldeneye (2 m, 1f) in company with the f Goosander. Pr Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch & many gulls incl a few big uns.

I checked the bottom end of HX Bus station in the rain, nothing but a corvid or four.

Swillington Ings

A memorable day out courtesy of DP; even though at times the wind was cutting right through us, the birds we saw made it all more than worthwhile.

c30 Curlew, c36 Golden Plover, several Gadwall, 3 Goldeneye,  several Wigeon ditto Teal, 3 Pochard, c12 Pintail, c25 Shoveler. c500 Lapwing, several Tufted Duck, f  Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, 8 Siskin, c18 Lesser Redpoll, 4 Bullfinch, Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 2 GBBG, 4 Reed Bunting, several Cormorant. 5/6 Goosander, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Water Pipit, Pied & Grey Wagtail, Buzzard.

Also 5 GC & 2 Little Grebe, large flocks of Canada & Greylag plus numerous small gull sp.

The Water Pipit were particularly welcome; this being my 5th attempt at their favoured site before hitting paydirt.

Queensbury and Ogden Res

Sunday 6 Jan Queensbury Sth a poor session indeed.
1 each Mistle Thrush & Greenfinch, 7 Chaffinch, Jay heard. Pr Dullard, few small gulls, 1 each Moorhen, Herring Gull & Snipe.  .

Stormy Monday 7 Jan Ogden Res. I really should have gone to the Psychiatrist but felt guilty about wasting his/her time, so I opted to get soaking wet.

Ogden 1155 hrs. Gash but as expected and amazingly I did get 2 newbies for the 2019 list. On the water besides the dullards and small gulls was an adult LBBG. A sizeable flock of Jackdaw were over Boggart Brigg. Annual no.1 was a pr Goldcrest and against all odds no.2 was a Kingfisher seen in flight down the embankment overflow.

Low Moor Dams

Harold Park Lake 1030 hrs quickly abandoned owing disturbance by Homo Sapiens and Lollopus Doggus. Pr Mute Swan ditto Tufted Duck seen among the commoners.
Park Dam was better: 2 GCG & 3 Little Grebe. 13 LBBG & 3 Herring Gull among the smaller sp.

8 Tufted Duck, several Coot & Moorhen. 3 Blackbird, c11 Goldfinch, 1 Greenfinch, 4 Redwing ditto Brambling which is a personal site tick here. Also 3 Cormorant.

All things considered, especially the cold, tweren't a bad session at all.