Low Moor Dams

1005 - 1130 hrs. I stayed dry for 90 percent of the outing but caught a soaking just 400 yards from my hovel on the return leg. It was worth it though as the session proved interesting if still on the quiet side.
For once Harold Park Lake was the busiest venue but this was balanced by Park Dam supplying me with a personal site tick.

HPL 1 each Grey Wagtail & Great-crested Grebe. 4 Moorhen, several Coot, c20 Tufted Duck, 5 Mute Swan, few BHG. 3  Greenfinch, few Goldfinch & House Sparrow, 5 House Martin. Also 1 Blackbird and Woodpigeons.

Park Dam 3 Mute Swan, 4 GCG incl 2 juveniles. 1 very welcome Common Sandpiper, the above mentioned site record. 3 Mute Swan, c12 Coot, 1 Moorhen also 1 Swift, 3 Blackbird.

Couple of Swallow at High Cross Lane on the return home and in Brighouse Road I found these critters:

They are Cinnabar Moth caterpillars and were feeding on Ragwort. I also managed a Painted Lady flutterbye and 4 small Tortoiseshell down at Cock Hill.

A Nice Day For No Birds

Pleasant weather to moan about the lack of birds in from start to finish. In fact at one stage I started to look at Bee & Flutterbye species to make up the numbers.

I really should use better punctuation in my attempts to improve my grammar; to this end here is a Comma.

Several Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Browns knocking about plus a few white jobs.

Birds: 2 Skylark ditto WW. 1 Herring, 5 LBB & several BHG, 3/4 Swallow similar House Martin. 1 calling Nuthatch & Linnet.

Easington and Spurn

Courtesy of DP on a very warm humid day which provided us with a few more annuals apiece.

5/6 Avocet, numerous Redshank & Knot. 1 each Green & Wood Sandpiper. c20 Black-tailed Godwit. 4 Oystercatcher.

Numerous Dunlin, 7 Sanderling, 1 Ringed Plover, 8 Golden Plover. 2 Whimbrel at long last.

Few Shelduck & Teal. Several Sandwich & Common Tern, 5 Little Tern.

1 Common, 2 Herring ditto GBB Gull & quite a few LBBG.

7 Grey Heron, 6 Little Egret. 4 Cormorant.

3 Pied Wagtail, few Linnet, numerous Swallow. Woodpigeon, House Sparrow, Starling.

Stoodley Pike

Thanks to DM & DW.

A challenging hike up to the monument with a more leisurely return downhill.
2 Swift, 1 House Martin, 8 Swallow.
3 Raven, few Crows. Several Mipit, 1 Skylark, 2 Wheatear one a definite juvenile, the other in female type plumage but a mover so hard to determine.

Photo: DW

1 Kestrel ditto Grey Heron & ubiquitous Goldfinch.

A Walk in the Heat

A different kettle of fish today for sure. I picked a watery venue that didn't have the scream factor (the bark factor has never bothered me).

It was an enjoyable slog in the hot sun overall with a few birds seen to boot. The most exciting moment, relatively speaking took place in an overgrown marshy scenario. I heard these sudden clamorous call notes and thought of Cettis Warbler but then discounted that species on the second burst because the notes weren't quite staccato. The next round clinched it as a Nuthatch but in a bog!

Grey Heron, GSW, Jay, 2 Pied Wagtail ditto Blackbird, 4 Swallow, 1 Whitethroat.

C25 BHG flew in settled on a shoreline for approx 15 mins before the bulk of them buggered off. 3 LBBG were high overhead
Also 7 WW & 5 LTT plus a party of c10 fast flying small Passerines I had no chance of identifying.

Trouble i't'mill on the way back namely c17 over friendly young bullocks. Never threatening they were so boisterous I elected to use a steep 40 metre climb to escape their attentions. I mean the rasping tongue, belching, saliva, farting and piss not to mention loads of snot. Still, I only covered 5 of 'em so I think the farmer shouldn't be too bothered.

A Windy Walk

The strong blustery SW'ly really did the number this morning and made a mocking misery of my birding hopes.

Woodland birds were nigh on non existent with no song or calls heard and just a Robin and 4 Blackbird seen. I did manage good views of 1 WW appropriated in a Willow.

c38 BHG & 5 LBBG seen on one watery stretch but only a single Common Gull on the other. The latter had 3 Grey Wagtail and a Common Sandpiper present.

A sighting of 15 Swallow and a single Linnet perched on a wire fence with 5/6 Swallow flying around stood out under the circumstances.

Swillington Ings

Courtesy DW on a warm sunny still morning. A pleasant stroll round this very large wetland which was notable for the good numbers of breeding  Common Tern.

Chiffchaff, 2 Whitethroat ditto Reed Warbler, 1 Cettis Warbler.
1 Black-necked Grebe ditto Little & numerous GCG.

1 small quick flying wader which remains unidentified. 3 Lapwing.

7 Kestrel, 5 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, few Gadwall seen similar Pochard, numerous Tufted Duck.

Several LBBG, 1 GBBG, several Herring Gull & numerous BHG.

1 Stonechat, couple Linnet, several Goldfinch, 1 Pied Wagtail.

5/6 Swift seen in the wider vicinity but amazingly not one Hirundine seen (we didn't get any Swallows, House nor Sand Martin either 😬😁).

Monday Meander

A very pleasant longish walk with some bird action interspaced by long intervals of none whatsoever.

2 Skylark, 6 Whitethroat, 3 Mipit, 1 Linnet.
Woodland birds quiescent now (and not  very loud with it 😁). 2 Blackcap 1 each WW & Chiffchaff. Handful of Swallow and not too many Goldfinch which is nice.

BHG finally in decent numbers c42 birds on one watery stretch but absent from the other. Same applies to LBBG 5 birds at the one location.

Grey Heron flying N, Jay, Stonechat, Reed Bunting, GC Grebe, GSW, RLP couple House Martin.

3 LEO together 2 appeared to be in adult garb but I think the third was the juvenile seen a few weeks back. Quite a few Blackbird seen and some weren't too happy with the Owl presence, which reminds me...

I spoke to a landowner and he stated that the three species of Owl he sees on his domain do appear to be holding their own again this year.

Today's Sloooow Walk

Boring too; I'm blaming the wind direction and old age.

5 LBBG, c13 BHG.
WW x 1, 2 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 3 Nuthatch ditto Song Thrush, 5 Blackbird.
Pr Kestrel, 1 GSW, few Skylark, 4 Whitethroat.

I had a helluva job trying to determine an alarm calling bird at Hunter Hill which went on for almost 15 minutes. My thoughts ranged from Little Owl to Snow Leopard; turned out to be a Green Woodpecker.

Mebbe 4 Swallow but just 1 House Martin which reminds me one month hence is the start of spot the last Swift  festival.

Walshaw Dean Area

A very enjoyable walk this morning   thanks to DW & DM. Birds were hard to come by but the scenery and ideal temperature compensated.

Pied Wagtail were all over the joint and all were family groups.
3 Curlew, pr Oystercatcher, almost 200 Lapwing.
Skylark, couple Mipit, few Swallow, Kestrel.
Grey Heron, several Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Tits mainly Coal.

Only gulls were 5 BHG

Not forgetting the Greylags, Canadas and the Weasel that let us pass unmolested.

More Than Yellow Legged...

Metro.co.uk: Rescuers find'exotic' bird is actually a seagull covered in curry. https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/08/rescuers-learn-that-the-exotic-bird-they-found-was-actually-a-seagull-covered-in-curry-10131425/

A Long Slog Rewarded

No doubt about it I bit off more than I could chew this am casually wandering off the beaten track and paying the price both in terms of avian inactivity and physical discomfort.

However...

I can think of a couple of places I wouldn't want these to be near

This adult LEO had me spellbound for a while and I'm so happy to have been able to get it immortalised on camera. An hour or so after I left another lucky observer states there were two birds seen.

Others: 1 Kestrel, 30 Lapwing and a Redshank sized wader that was probably one but distance and haze prevented a confident identification.
Jay, numerous Tits mainly Coal & Gt, Goldcrests, f Blackcap catching flys, WW, Chiffchaffs. Skylarks, few Swallow, couple House Martin. 2 Song Thrush, few Blackbird and one species in the open that simply flew too fast and got away
Gulls appearing regularly now; 5 LBBG & 14 BHG.

A Strange Garden Bird

I found this perched upside down on the bottom of my garden wall this afternoon. I just know this is gonna take a few weeks to identify.

PS Thanks to the lepidoptera expert AC I found out that this is an

Old Lady Mormo maura

(Linnaeus, 1758) thanks Andy.

A Different Route

This morning I decided to visit a local area I last went to 4 years ago. It also has a stretch of water but once again it was basically a case of the bird species being no different from my usual walks.
Kestrel, Reed Bunting, 2 House Martin, few Swallows, 4 Linnet, Jay, GSW.

Migrant Warblers: 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap ditto Whitethroat & several WWs including the juvenile below.

Some 32 Canada were on the water, but gull numbers are still poor with just 4 BHG overhead briefly.
A Buzzard appeared for a few minutes giving me the opportunity for a few bursts of the button.

Other birds: 3/4 Blackbird, 2 Song Thrush ditto Mistle Thrush, Goldfinches, 2 Wren, Woodpiggies, Caawvids.

A Bird Inspired Melody - Not For The Faint Hearted!

Today's Birds

An embellished walk today both at start and halfway through, gaining mebbe two more species than of late.

3 Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff ditto Song Thrush, WW & Reed Bunting.
3 LBBG, 5 BHG. 3 Rook among other caawvids.
6 Curlew, 2 Snipe, Common Sandpiper.
5 House Martin, 2 Swallow ditto 2 Linnet. Goldfinches throughout.
1 GSW.

c50 House Sparrow was a local notable sighting.

Species Suppression Example 1

Well that was easily done wasn't it?