Queensbury To Horton Bank CP

Cross Lane area held a pr Lapwing, 1 Swallow, 5 House Martin, 3 singing Skylark & a couple of Meadow Pipit. Further down Bridge Lane a Whitethroat was singing.

Horton Bank Country Park was a revelation; the Car Park has been closed and the area has been cleaned up by the council. I haven't been for a while but I will be going back and not only for birds; there was only one dealer present and no sign of druggy detritus whatsoever.

I got a local tick here in the form of a Sedge Warbler singing loudly and continually. I also got a reet paggerin from a Mute Swan. After unwittingly walking near it's nest the Cob marched straight toward me and started lunging so I backed away. It nipped my leg and a reactionary flick of my foot which wasn't meant to connect saw him deftly duck to the left before delivering a neat peck on my right hand, my kind of fighter. Once I retreated onto the path the bird stayed put.

Also seen: 4 each Coot & Moorhen, 1 LBBG, 3 Canada, many Dullard. The bushes produced 1 Jay ditto Blackcap, 3 WW, 1 each Whitethroat, Chiffchaff & Garden Warbler plus a modicum of Blackbird.

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Langden Valley

Courtesy of DW & DM.
Cuckoo heard several times. 1 Common Sandpiper many Oystercatcher.
2 Ring Ouzel seen, one in flight, the other a perched male in stonking breeding plumage.

Also seen in flight a male Merlin pursuing a Meadow Pipit. Shortly after a pr Peregrine seen in more leisurely flight.

2 Buzzard, 1 Raven, several Curlew. Pr Red-legged Partridge, 4/5 LBBG.

Few House Martin, Swallow & Swift.
1 Reed Bunting ditto Dipper, 3/4 Stonechat, couple Goldcrest, several Meadow Pipit, few Pied Wagtail, WWs.

A memorable outing indeed.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Bradford Council have posted a notice stating planning permission has or is being passed for the provision of extra footpaths on the Hellish Hill that will link up on all points of the compass to existing ones.

5 Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Curlew. Usual Skylarks & Mipits, 1 Greenfinch, 2 Swallow, WW, Whitethroat.

Back Lane was quiet until I got the bridge where a switchback route takes you to Giants Tooth. Here a pr Raven and a pr Crow were having a shouting match that went on for some 25 minutes.
Not much doing otherwise due to people and dogs, a calling Siskin being welcome.

The golf course and Hunter Hill stretch was narcolepsy enshrined.
Mixenden Res produced Redshank, Swallow, 5 House Martin, pr Swift, Chiffchaff.

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.

Swillington Ings

A warm bright sunny day and a quiet start that improved.
3 each Sand Martin & Swift, 1 Swallow.

A Cuckoo called thrice and 2 maybe 3 Bittern boomed regularly.
4 Common Tern seen but I failed to pick up the elusive Black Tern. This was balanced by getting the pr Garganey though the photos I took at distance were appallingly putrid.

I found a pr Black-necked Grebe and managed to alert some visiting birders who I hope persevered and saw them after they shot into the reeds.

Others: Little & GC Grebe, Pochard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufted Duck. Reed Bunting & a few Reed & Sedge Warbler.

Interesting that in 3 trips on the trot here Little Egret seems to have done a runner.

Queensbury North

I decided to go down Station Road this morning after a long absence from that theatre of avian excitation. Time to accept the Spring migration of yesteryear is consigned to just that; nothing to stir the adrenaline appeared. Yet again there wasn't a single Hirundine nor Apodididdlyidodiform seen 😭 just 3/4 WW, Chiffchaff & 4 Whitethroat. Got to admit though that the latter do appear to be in good numbers this year and one of them was singing just a few yards away from Thornton Road.

There was one exceptional moment when I espied a vagrant Grimbles Changeable Eagle Owl perched on a fence. Obviously this bird was on it's annual migration from Birkenshaw to Siberia and stopped for a rest.

This plumage could alter at any given time

Cromwell Bottom

Quieter than expected eg no hirundines and Sand Martin Hotel deserted.
Song Thrush are doing well with 6 birds singing loudly.

Only 1 WW heard ditto Garden Warbler but 4/5 Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and similar Blackcap.
The Reeds produced 1 Little Grebe ditto Reed Bunting and 2 singing  Reed Warler.

It was refreshing to see 5 adventurous young men and a dog camped out with two tents and a burning fire a few yards from the footpath. Now I'm not suggesting the dog started the fire for one minute.

Why this habitat hasn't produced Cettis Warbler yet is a mystery to me. It maybe that the bird police have been suppressing of course.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

B1045 hrs on a belated winter morning and it certainly showed. Couple Curlew, Lapwing, Skylark & Whitethroat.

A walk round Ogden Res was a moribund  brain cell overdose as was the stretch across to Hunter Hill although I did pick up another 2 Whitethroat & a Curlew.

Mixenden Res proved to be the saviour where I got my first Swift flying over the water low down. A fair few Swallow were here too. A pair Common Sandpiper were hyperactive and a Redshank called as it flew the reservoir length.
Others here: 1 GC Grebe, pr Tufted Duck, Blackcap.

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A Trek Down Shibden Valley

Approx 0910-1145 hrs. Cold with grey skies which was reflected by the lack of Hirundines. There was however a fair amount of woodland bird activity, both resident and migrant.
4 Nuthatch, 5 Song Thrush, 1 Green Woodpecker, several Blackbird, few Linnet & Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch.
3 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, c10 Chiffchaff, c12 Whitethroat & a Gigabyte of WW.

A Buzzard flew out of a tree and circled close overhead showing it was missing a primary or two on the right wing; no doubt it was looking for it.
I thought I finally nailed a Swift at Jackson Hill but it was a mimicking Starling; the swine. 2 Skylark were singing in the nearby area.

Swillington Ings

Courtesy of DW along with DM.
Lesser Whitethroat singing. 2 Cettis Warbler, pr Reed Warbler, 7 Sedge Warbler, 4 Whitethroat, 2 Garden Warbler, 3 Blackcap, Chiffchaffs & WWs.

Both Reed & Sedge Warbler photos: DW

2 Common Tern, ditto Redshank & Snipe, several Lapwing, 1 Skylark.
Usual regulars: eg Tufted, Pochard, Gadwall & Shoveler, Reed Bunting.