Queensbury to Mixenden

0835-1150 hrs. Another poor session  in the main which was enlivened by one very good species sighting at half time.
c30 Lapwing at Mountain and a horde of gulls on the football pitch, mainly Common.
Raggalds Flood is demoted to pond at present.
Soil Hill: 9 Meadow Pipit, 2 Dullard only.

Ogden was hard work with visitors all over the joint. However in the W shore Alders I encountered c26 Lesser Redpoll busily feeding. I managed to check em out for grey/white chest/flanks & rump and am satisfied these were all Lesser. Inevitably along came Mr & Mrs Glomp and the Glompingtons and with a crash bang wallop and a scream or two off flew the birds without a by your leave or a kiss my ass.
Apart from the gulls there was a GSW and a Grey Wagtail noted.

I set off to Stod Fold and checked the trees there but didn't get anything at all.
The f Goosander was still on Mixenden Res along with an epidemic of gulls incl an adult LBBG overhead.

So in local terms on a personal basis when all the shouting is over, out goes a below average 2018 on a high note, thankfully.

Surely This Is An Ogden Bird?

BBC News: Madagascar pochard: World's rarest bird gets new home. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46703335

Queensbury South

Approx 0950-1130 hrs with grey skies and a notable W'ly blow; again patchy but more rewarding than yesterday.
1 adult Herring Gull in flight and several small gull sp.
c24 Goldfinch, 3 Chaffinch ditto Blackbird. A minimum of 70 Redwing. 1 singing Mistle Thrush.
4 Snipe.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

A  really poor session; no birds but an amount of depression
Soil Hill: 3 Mipit & a passage of c26 small Gull sp. > W which I didn't raise the bins for.

Ogden: Eeeewwww! 4 LTT were the best on muster. The gulls have started roosting on the overflow railings now that the drink is topped up. I checked for leg rings but no such jewellery seen. 3 Moorhen in the plantation.

Mixenden Res just coughed up the f Goosander pr Mistle Thrush, Moorhen and the Gulls.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

A very patchy session that improved near the end of the game.
Soil Hill: pr Snipe, 8 Meadow Pipit.
Now for the patchy bit; Ogden. The plantation was dead and the reservoir just about still having a pulse. 1 Herring Gull among the smaller ones and a very nervous female Tufted Duck that departed toward Cold Edge after splashing down near the W shore.

At 1205 hrs I was stood below the wood at Stod Fold when a skein of Pink-footed Geese flew over > E between Mixenden Res and Hunter Hill calling loudly. The  trees obscured the view to such a degree I couldn't estimate the number of birds but I don't think it was a large flock.
Also here were 4 Mistle Thrush and 1 each of GSW & Blackbird.

Mixenden Res held 1 Cormorant and a female Goosander that kept company with a pr Goldeneye. Among the many gulls there appeared a very large sub-adult phase job that I concluded could only be a GBBG.

Local Annual Review

2018 has been the strangest year since I started to bird this area in AD 2000. Not only have species sightings declined but migration patterns too, e.g only one winter sighting of a Pink-footed Goose skein and far less Fieldfare flocks than previous years.
Two species that stand out like a sore thumb in not being recorded are Merlin (3 years without) and Jack Snipe; the latter particularly galls given my regular sightings on Soil Hill up until two years back.
Other bad actors in not showing up are: Snow Bunting, Barn Owl, Little Ringed Plover (I know!) and Tree Pipit; the latter was almost a certainty at Ogden Giants Tooth or the golf course rough.

On the bright side, I'm certainly happy with the Buzzard count, the majority of this species coming from just down the road apiece. Grey Plover on Soil Hill in early spring is very satisfying and the Ruff again down the road even more so.
4 Green Sandpiper at Fly Flatts was a great record which leads me into the battle for the best species this year. Male Black Redstart at Queensbury cricket pitch or female Hen Harrier carrying prey over moorland? Bit of a struggle but the HH pips it.

Anglers Country Park

Courtesy of DW along with DM. We also looked at Cold Hindley Reservoir.
A few Goldeneye, several Pochard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Wigeon, Goosander. GC & Little Grebe, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Coot, Moorhen.

Blackbird, Redwing, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Coal & LTT
c15 Redpoll, 2 Siskin, Tree Sparrow, Lapwing, Mute Swan. Greylags & Canadas, Pied Wagtail.
Despite failing to see the 3 Scaup that were recently reported it was still a good morning out.

Cracking views of a Buzzard perched on a roadside grass verge on the route home.

Swillington Ings

Courtesy of DP a pleasant session on a sunny calm day.
Waders: c240 Lapwing, 7 Curlew, 1 Redshank.
Wildfowl were numerous, including hundreds of Canadas and Greylags. Several Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, and Gadwall. Fair counts of Shoveler and 3/4 each of Pochard and Goldeneye.

Others present: 2 GBBG, c13 Cormorant, 4 Grey Heron ditto GCG, 2 Little Grebe, 5 Reed Bunting similar LTT, 13 Goosander,  Buzzard heard. Numerous smaller gull sp., Coots, several Moorhen.

Round Up

Pellon Lane HX Monday 17 Dec 

Courtesy of DP. Arrived at 0920 hrs and got really lucky - a Waxwing was perched atop a tree as Dave parked the car. When we got out it had flown and within a minute or so 3 others flew after it but we never relocated them. Subsequently DW had travelled to the same site and failed to see them.

There were lots of Redwings plus a few Blackbird and Fieldfare feeding on berries.

Brighouse Rd Sunday 16 Dec
DP reports getting out of bed at an hour I thought was fictional 0300 to investigate a Tawny Owl blasting away. Turned out it was in the trees on the opposite side of the frog n toad where I found a deceased one a while back.

Soil Hill and Ogden Friday 14 Dec
Cold Bright morning good for walking and some cold weather movement - the birds having all moved out the area.
SH c7 Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Wren, Kestrel.
Ogden Res: Moorhen, 2 Nuthatch, 5 Bullfinch, Sparrowhawk.

Low Moor Dams

1030 hrs in a cold E'ly wind. The quietest visit ever and the shortest.
2 F Goosander on Harold Park Lake, 1 Herring Gull 4 Tufted Duck, 1 Grey Wagtail and small Gull sp.
Park Dam: 1 Cormorant, 2 GC Grebe, 12 Tufted Duck, 1 Pied Wagtail, c54 Canada, 1 LBBG & small gulls. Suppose I'd better throw Coots & Moorhens in at both sites.

Several Lapwing in the field above High Cross Lane, Kestrel nr trailer park.

Queensbury to Mixenden

0955 hrs 24 Lapwing at Mountain & c30 Common Gull over the road on the sports field.
Raggalds Flood was unadorned.

Soil Hill was almost barren apart from a Kestrel but it did afford me my first winter skein of  Pink-footed Geese eventually. I may have had 2 skeins as I first heard several calls but the distance and haze prevented a sighting. Then about 12 minutes later after more calls at 1045 hrs I got c120 birds flying W from bottom of TMR to similar Fly Flatts.

A pr Wigeon were feeding at Ogden Res and several Chaffinch were present; 3 of them feeding in a flycatcher manner. Otherwise it was down to all gulls and Dullards. A Moorhen was in the plantation as were 5 Pheasant.

The walk from the golf course to Mixenden Res was putresence enshrined, there weren't even any cattle or sheep to frighten. Things did pick up at Hunter Hill bottom where a pair of Stonechat were pottering about.
The reservoir just had a f Goosander, Pied Wagtail, many gulls, GSW & a LTT.

Rare Queensbury Visitor Embarrasses Birder

I couldn't resist the clear skies this morning so despite my earlier promise to quit local birding, I set off around Queensbury South from approx 1005-1210 hrs. As a result I was hoisted by my own petard albeit with great satisfaction!
After trawling Littlemoor Park, I decided to survey the boggy corner of Cross Lane. Five minutes into the field, a medium sized wader took off from the edge of a patch of Willows. I got sight of it as it dropped down into a slightly more open area and immediately thought of an odd Redshank. As I was halfway through circling round to get a better view, the bird took flight again, this time with a very significant call before dropping down again in a far corner. It was a Ruff! I decided to leave the bird alone and departed the field; it must have been exhausted to have chosen such a small patch of localised tundra in which to to rest.

In Green Lane it was difficult to escape a pr of Buzzard flying around and above my head before they caught the attention of the local Crows. Even a Jackdaw flock decided to join in the fun and half-heartedly mob them at one stage. A Sparrowhawk was also doing the rounds at Corporal Lane.

Other birds encountered: Kestrel, pr Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Nuthatch, few Chaffinch & Goldfinch, 1 Greenfinch, 2 Bullfinch, 3 Blackbird ditto Pied Wagtail.