Horton Bank CP To Queensbury Sth

Quiet at Horton Bank apart from many noisy gulls. Can’t recall getting Greylag Goose here so this singleton was welcome.

 Pr Mute Swan a dozen or so Canadas couple Coot & Moorhen.

Bridge Lane was quiet too until I reached the last 200 yards or so. I count myself lucky to find 7 Fieldfare & a single Redwing in the Hawthorns. 4 Rook seen in the vicinity.

Several BHG & Common Gulls were all together in one farmer’s field. 

The excavations at Cross Lane have expanded another 500 yards are so. 6 Mallard 🦆 present but nothing else as the large digger was busy.

Ogden Water To Mixenden

Another below par session 😞. 5 Tufted Duck still on Ogden. Low numbers of expected Gulls. A singing Mistle Thrush ditto Chaffinch and a few Blue/Great Tits.

A pr Blackbird 🐦‍⬛ at Stod Fold were calling loudly and shrill at Stod Fold for an unknown reason.

A Mistle Thrush was also singing at Mixenden. A Green Woodpecker was really belting out no doubt laffing at my attempts to see if there was anything interesting about - no there wasn’t.

Freezing Cold Usual Route

Battling a brisk chilling wind today was no fun at all from Ogden to Mixenden 😨. Almost as much non fun was the distinct shortage of birds 😏.

Ogden had 5 Tufted Duck and a small selection of the usual gulls on the water. Arboreal avians down to a Blue Tit Robin and Wren.

A break in the doldrums came when I left the promenade and headed over the rough towards Mixenden. 3 Crow were behaving very discourteously towards a pair of displaying Buzzards.

No point mentioning Mixe… 😞.

Bad Trip To Brighouse

A nightmare journey from Halifax; roadworks at Brighouse and dodgy temporary traffic lights caused very long vehicle queues 😡.

Cromwell Bottom birding is still very frustrating and I’m sure other birders need no explanation why.

5 Goldeneye  4 Mute Swan. Numerous gulls both large and small common species.

The trees and feeders produced a pandemic of the expected Tits. Couple Blackbird and 5 Robin. One each Cormorant & Raven in flight.

Small Bits And Pieces

3 days ago I chucked a small portion of  leftover chicken curry breast into the back yard. The next morning I noticed it gone but was amazed to see a female Blackbird 🐦‍⬛ polishing off a piece, it was almost licking its lips 👅.

In the evening a male Blackbird was singing.

This morning I saw a Crow in Foxhill playing fields that was so leucistic it looked more like a Magpie. The coverts secondaries and primaries emblazoned white.

Ogden Water was quiet, the Goosanders reported by BS had left and only a few gulls were left including 5 Common. I did get 2 loud hoots from a Tawny Owl and a pair of Bullfinch. No singers today apart from a Blackbirds weak effort. I put this down to the temperature drop.

More Ogden Water To Mixenden

A satisfactory walk around Ogden with reasonable visibility.

A flock of maybe just over a hundred Pink-footed Geese flew over from the E/SE then veered off to the N heading towards Warley Moor.

Not much doing on the water but the E bank was busy with several Tits including 1 LTT & 2 Coal. Also 1 Blackbird. 2 Song Thrush were singing as was a Mistle Thrush. One m Bullfinch ditto Chaffinch.

Mixenden Res was rotten with a couple of hundred plus gulls present. Mainly BHG but also Common & Herring.

6 Continental Blackbirds & a singing Mistle Thrush in the trees.

Ogden To Mixenden In The Murk

I just had to get out of the hovel this morning to save beating the ceiling with my head after 5 days spent staying in.

Saw JL at Ogden so we traipsed around it together with not much seen at all. A Herring Gull perched next to 4 BHG.

I managed a Kestrel which was also fogged off so much so it hung around for a few minutes before drifting off. 

I got a pr Greenfinch in Rocks Lane.

At Mixenden I encountered a Song Thrush that had completely lost the plot - it was 🎶 singing!

The GBBG was on the water as were 3/4 Herring Gull a couple of LBBG and the smaller jobs.