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. 

Ogden Wat…Look Away Now!

I praise myself for picking the wrong day again. The brisk wind chill blew my toupee off 3/4 times and ensured birds were minimal 😓.

A Buzzard called 5/6 times which broke the monotony. 2 LBBG were on the drink. Usual common warblers in small numbers. Same applies to expected residents.

Golf course to MixenDeadEnd; 😵‍💫💦 👎.