Tuesday 31 July 2018

Queensbury to Swalesmoor

From home to Shibden Head my binoculars remained sheathed such was the avian inertia. A Green Woodpecker & a WW were heard briefly.

There was a mini swarm of House Martin around the Swalesmoor Rd side of the valley so I eventually perambulated down that thorofare and freed the optics.

The breezy top coughed up Kestrel, Buzzard, Goldfinch, Linnet, c23 LBBG, Caaawvids, 1 Pied Wagtail.

Messrs Scuzzer & Scumsucker have deposited a huge amount of rubbish at the narrow track near Slack End that leads up to the fields. I wish upon them a virulent sepsis that takes the long route before consigning them to hades.

Monday 30 July 2018

Soil Hill to Mixenden

I took 6 Mistle Thrush on Soil Hill as a good omen for movement this morning and it turned out to be the case. c30 Goldfinch were flitting around Coal Lane with 4 Swallow on the wires and a pr Blackbird nearby. A pr Curlew flew over calling twice.




Ogden Res: Finally, a bird I'd written off for this year here; 1 Common Sandpiper. It was very flighty, always keeping well ahead of me out of camera range. 1 Cormorant, 2 Swallow, 1 Herring & c15 LBBG, c50 BHG. 3 juvenile Moorhen & Coal Tits in and around the plantation.



Golf course: a cracking female Redstart, perched almost next to a Reed Bunting. The Redstart flew off back towards the woodland. 1 Curlew, 2 WW, Green Woodpecker.
Mixenden Res; f Goldeneye, 2 Grey Wagtail, Moorhen, 4 LBBG, BHGs.
Pr Siskin calling loudly from the pines next to the main road.

A good birding session indeed (did I say that?).

Friday 27 July 2018

Soil Hill Fly Flatts Circular

Some thunderstorm weren't it? I never felt a drop but I probably dropped a kilo of sweat in what was a marathon sauna.
Pity I can't get loquacious about birds because you need them to be present in numbers and variety to do so.

Soil Hill: 1 Swift, few Swallow, 2 Skylark.
7 Red Grouse seen on moors twixt Ogden and TMR, 2 WW singing briefly, 1 Kestrel.
Fly Flatts: 3 Pied Wagtail, few Mipits, 1  adult male Wheatear, 1 Curlew ditto Lapwing, Tufted Duck with 4 young, & Gulls.
More Gulls at Ogden Inc. 4 Herring & c54 LBBG. Also 1 each Cormorant & Jay.

Thursday 26 July 2018

A Red Kite Over The Parish

That Lady has done it again, proving there are good birds to be seen locally and tarnishing my scepticism to boot. 😰


Hi Nigel,
A couple of shots of a Red Kite which came over the garden this morning, at around 10:45, heading west.





Denise

Thanks a lot Denise for the great pics, glad to see you back in action.
Now, where did I put my sulking stool...

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Blacktoft Sands Jamboree

An exultant DW after his early hours SEO & Scoter scoop at Fly Flatts picked me up at 0800 and headed to DM's abode for the car transfer trip to Blacktoft Sands.







Top 7 photos: NK

3 Yellow Wagtail & 2 Pied. 3 Spoonbill, 4 Little Egret, 7 Grey Heron, 5/6 Marsh Harrier, pr Gadwall, Shoveler, scores of Teal. 7 Bearded Tit, 1 Yellowhammer ditto Reed Bunting, several Tree Sparrow, 9 Dunlin, c40 scruffy Ruff, c10 Spotted Redshank & Common Redshank.




Bottom 4 photos: DW

Black-tailed Godwit outnumbered other wader sp. with c90 birds being seen.
10 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, 9/10 Sand Martin. Blackcap, unid Warblers in flight. 6 Snipe, many Lapwing.


Monday 23 July 2018

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Today was a slow day, about as slow as a Sloth on 10 mg of Mogadon. Soil was just Hellish; Dullards, 2 Sly Lark, Canada's.
Ogden had 3 Hurrying Gull, c22 Lazy Black-backed, many BHGs, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 1 Jay, 1 GSW.

A pr of Kestrel livened up the golf course but nothing could help the route to Mixenden Res. It was so bad that a calling Green Woodpecker at Stod Fold was seen later at Hunter Hill in flight retrieving it's notes then regurgitating them!

Mixenden was full of people both on and off the water plus a few Swallow & House Martin.
I've just realised I haven't had a 2018 Common Sandpiper here, the same applies to Ogden.

Finally to make the day really special I just read that the RSPB ringers managed to ensure the demise of an Osprey chick in Scotland. Marvellous, champion, terrific.

Friday 20 July 2018

Swillington Ings

Had a crack at the Black Tern for the third time this year and after half an hour within arrival I found it flying over Balance lake heading towards me.
There were plenty of Common Tern, probably the most I've ever had here.

Checking the mudflats at Astley lake a presumed distant Redshank morphed into a Black-tailed Godwit. I'm sure this is a site tick for moi.
Good numbers of Pochard were also seen here.

A walk round this very large site didn't turn up anything else spectacular but I do question myself at deeming 4 Little Egret as routine.
4 Kestrel together were having a squabble a family rift perhaps?

Reed Warblers were still creating, 2 WW & a Chiffchaff also. There were troops of Tufted Duck, cohorts of Coot, legions of Lapwing and Gadwall galore. A couple of Swift and a few Sand Martin don't quite complete the picture.

Wednesday 18 July 2018

Ogden Res Fly Flatts Circular

Courtesy of DM along with DW arriving at Ogden approx 0940 hrs where we recorded an adult Mute Swan a rarity for this location.

Photo NK

A couple of Swift flew over, a Kestrel too and the usual gulls, LBBG, BHG & 1 Herring were loafing around.

Then it was downhill all the way as we went uphill to Fly Flatts. We all remarked how devoid of birds it was; a good yardstick being not even a single Magpie or Crow were seen in about 1-1/2 hours! Of course there were the usual Canadas on the water and 3 LBBG. 7 Red Grouse were seen throughout the walk, all of them remaining silent.

However a prior visit by DP at 0630 proved most satisfactory a SEO  was photographed.



Bottom 2 photos: DP

Returning back to the car park via Ogden got us a pr Oystercatcher thanks to DM's efficient eyeballs. Also a Chiffchaff giving forth a few notes but not much else.

Monday 16 July 2018

Low Moor Dams

The paucity of birds is locally widespread. Harold Park Lake was a write off; I suppose the wealth of green algae didn't help. I did get several Swift and House Martin on Halifax Road just before I arrived at Low Moor and a couple of large gulls over.

Park Dam: 1 each Little & GC Grebe, 1 Kestrel, 3 BHG, c10 Tufted Duck, 3 House Martin, 2 Swift, 2 Blackbird, several House Sparrow, 2 Collard Dove, Dunnock, Coot, Moorhen, Dullards.
Roll on Autumn or mebbe 2019.

Saturday 14 July 2018

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Another exasperating walk thanks to the lack of birds. Soil Hill had a Kestrel, 7/8 Skylark and the residue of Thursday's sizeable Meadow Pipit influx. However the 8 Curlew and large Lapwing flock from the week before have dwindled to nowt, nada, nichts, zilch.

I tried to reacquaint myself with the 4 Spotted Flycatcher from last week at Ogden Res to no avail. However I did manage to encounter the Siskin pair/family thanks to the racket they made.
A pale mantled large gull was in among the LBBG crowd on the water so I started to check on YLG features with difficulty as it remained at distance. The legs remained hidden so it was down to the primary wing mirrors and black tips; as much as it causes me great angst I have to conclude Herring Gull.

Across the golf course and track to Mixenden took me back to my desert days but without the sand. A Swallow and Meadow Pipit had the affrontery to permeate the clear blue skies.
There was no sign of Thursday's long staying f Goldeneye but this is understandable given the heathen hordes present, in fact they may be responsible for the loud shriek issued by the Moorhen.

Here is a pic of a mega I picked up, again on Thursday a personal tick to boot, a Turkey.

The Mixenden Gobbler

Wednesday 11 July 2018

Rodley Nature Reserve

Courtesy of  DM along with DW. A very enjoyable session culminating with a look inside the visitor centre which contained information of value relevant to many of the plants and insects we'd encountered.

A welcome surprise bird came in the form of a Pintail, either a female or juvenile judging by the plumage. At this date I don't think it was a male in eclipse.

Grey Heron, Red Kite, Kestrel, Kingfisher,  Cormorant, Pintail, Tufted Duck, GC & Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Sand Martin, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Song Thrush.

A Tawny Owl was heard calling for a few minutes during the walk to the reserve but eluded us in the foliage.