Cuckoos For Ogden

The wind was so strong that I left the bins in the rucksack until I hit Ogden Res.Let me qualify that, I mean the weather not flatulence.

The effort to reach Giants Tooth was rewarded both with regular often loud Cuckoo calls and a sighting of not one but two birds. First a brown job flying in one direction then 2/3 minutes later a Grey bird flying much closer to me zooming in the opposite direction.

A Tawny Owl hooted twice otherwise it was down to the usual singers apart from a weird and frustrating 15 minute episode with a total stranger mainly audio with a 4 second visual.
This is to be let go as I wish to preserve my sanity.

Bolton Abby

Courtesy of DM along with DW.

1 Red Kite ditto Kestrel. Cuckoo heard, 1 Dipper ditto Tawny Owl seen perched and in flight.
Oystercatchers, Curlews, Common Sandpipers, Lapwings. Pr Red-legged Partridge

F Goosander with young also f Mandarin with 7 young. 2 male Mandarin.

Couple Swift, few House and Sand Martin ditto Swallow. Few Grey & Pied Wagtail

3 Redstart, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2/3 Pied Flycatcher. 3 singing Garden Warbler, several singing Blackcap with one showing well. WWs & Chiffchaffs. Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Mistle & Song Thrush & expected woodland types.

The first Redstart sighting was dramatic: the bird dropped down to a wall top where underneath it a Stoat was dragging a freshly killed Rabbit along the wall side.

Cold Edge and Fly Flatts

Cold Edge was both disappointing and very quiet; any Whinchat I hoped for failed to materialise and there wasn't much doing otherwise. Curlew, Snipe, 2 Barnacle among the Canada, couple Linnet.
BS stopped on his way back from Fly Flatts to inform of the wealth of waders up there so I made the effort to go up. 4 Curlew were in the fields near the old Withens pub.

DP later joined in but a walk halfway round what remains of the reservoir provided only drumming Snipe and a calling Curlew, 6 Common Sandpiper and a battalion of big gulls until we reached the stretch from SW corner to the boatyard end.
Here I got 10 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover and another Common Sandpiper. DP went along the moorland side looking for Whinchat but reported nothing doing.

I decided to walk down to Ogden which proved fatal; nothing on the drink with a Grey Wagtail in the overflow.

Ogden to Mixenden

Bumped into DP up Persecution Road where we decided to have a crack at the Spotted Flycatcher I saw recently near Giants Tooth.

On the way there we got a cracking male Wheatear which was my first local area bird of the year!

We failed on the Flycatcher so then decided to go to the treeline end near the golf course.

A Tree Pipit was singing in the former proven breeding area and continued to sing and display for some time during which it was seen perched on 3 occasions. A most welcome annual as I didn't clock one the previous year.

Others: WW, Blackcap, Chiffchaff,
2 Whitethroat ditto GSW. Singles Green Woodpecker, Jay & Reed Bunting, couple Mipit.

Mixenden Res was deadly just pr Tufted Duck & Dullards.

Wintersett & Anglers CP

Courtesy of DP n a quest for Great Reed Warbler & Ferruginous Duck. We got the former rattling away loudly close by but electing not to show.

Other interesting birds: c10 Common Tern,1 Little Ringed Plover ditto Cettis Warbler, 2 Swift, Lapwings Oystercatcher & Redshank.

A bonus was Lesser Whitethroat singing loudly before being seen close up in a Hawthorn tree.

Martin Mere

Courtesy DW on bright warm morning. Plenty of captive exotica of course but a struggle to find native wild birds.

Cuckoo calling frequently but not seen. Buzzard & f Marsh Harrier doing the rounds.
Pr Greenshank, 3/4 Avocet, possible LRP but distance prevented confirmation.
c80 Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwings & a single Redshank.

Shelduck all over the shop but only a couple pair of Tufted Duck, Shoveler & a drake Wigeon.
Cettis Warbler heard a few times and a single bird seen in flight. Also Reed & Sedge Warbler sounding off, Blackcap & Tree Sparrow.

This site run by the WWT is renowned for its winter visiting Wildfowl but in my opinion is not worth travelling to from mid Spring to late Summer given the exorbitant entrance fee of £14 per adult.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

The hill was passage only but still coughed up 4 Whitethroat & Skylark with a Curlew being heard.

I did a search up by the Giants Tooth and came away feeling ever so smug after first hearing and then getting good views of Spotted Flycatcher. Some 70 yards further on I heard more calls but no bird seen.

The golf course produced Reed Bunting and a Whitethroat but the trek across Hunter Hill bottom was void. However despite a load of people and dogs Mixenden Res held a splendiferous drake Wigeon.

The Redshank was still present with 2 pr Tufted Duck also.