DM's Shibden Walk

Different walk today. Down into the woods in shibden park then along the valley in the opposite direction to sunny vale then back through hipperholme/ chelsea woods. Chiffchaffs a plenty heard and seen, grey wagtail, 2 nuthatch, a gsw, 2 redwing (thought they'd gone) ltts, but the highlight for me was a green woody in flight. It looked like a bird of paradise 😊

Queensbury To Soil Hill

Birdwise this was a real non event but at least I got the opportunity to break my new boots in (the boots won).

The pair of Wren working my back yard took on more value as I struggled to see birds in a spiteful cold E'ly blow.

1 singing Skylark at Fox Hill & a bunch of Starling at Mountain; nothing on Raggalds Flood.

Soil Hill: 4 Lapwing fighting of 3 times as many Crows. Couple of Curlew similar Meadow Pipit, 3 Skylark and a large overhead Gull that insisted on showing it's belly only. Another bunch of Starling.

From Ropey Lane I saw several Canada on the pond at Badshaw.

The fields around Old Guy Road were abysmal; 1 Pied Wagtail ditto LBBG, yet more Starling & a group of House Sparrow.

DS Gets The Money Shot

Denise told me that 2 Brambling were in her garden on Thursday; lucky for DP who managed to see one.

On Friday a Sparrowhawk flashed through and stopped for a meal.

A great photo of a raptor doing what nature designed it for. Thanks Denise NK.

Shibden Head and Swalesmoor

A Sunny but cool morning with a mainly light breeze from Northern parts.

Some birds decided to lock down in good numbers mainly around Swalesmoor, apart from the crows.

3 Meadow Pipit & Skylark, 1 Stock Dove, 4 Pied Wagtail.

Three seems to be the key number today; 3 Jay, Greenfinch, LTT, Chiffchaff. 

2 Green Woodpecker, 1 each Buzzard, Nuthatch & Song Thrush. A Tawny Owl hooted loudly twice.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

SH: 17 Curlew, 11 Lapwing, 1 each Moorhen & Grey Heron, Skylarks & Meadow Pipits. The N slope hedge just had 1 very noisy Wren. Of Covid 19 present, 4 were Rook, not the most common bird around here. Bagged another annual finally a singing Linnet. 

NB You two what read my blog. The Wimps have closed Ogden Water down. I entered from the moors and only found out when exiting. Thanks to my athletic prowess I climbed the top entrance by the golf course without injury.

A pr Goosander, 2 LBBG, 3 Common Gull, 1 Nuthatch ditto drumming GSW & 2 singing Chiffchaff. 

The golf course coughed up another singing Linnet and a single Curlew. A Raven was circling the mid and upper slope of Hunter Hill.

Mixenden Res had 1 each Cormorant, Redshank & singing Chiffchaff.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Soil Hill: busy with Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. Also 1 Sparrowhawk ditto RLP, 3 Curlew, 12 Lapwing, 1 Stock Dove & 1 Grey Heron.

A bird flew into a section of the N slope hedge looking like a dark Thrush, slimmer than a Blackbird. I saw it for 2 seconds before it flitted to another part and gave another brief view. Although it was obscured by branches and twigs the overall profile plumage appeared to be wings showing light grey against a dark brown or black body. At the time I had to allow some doubt to creep into my head but not anymore. After wading through many images it fits female Ring Ouzel. I must add that the birds behaviour was bang on for this species too.

11 Roe Deer were also seen.

A few Curlew and Lapwing were at Foreside where they were outnumbered by tons of mud.

The exterior of Ogden Reservoir had 3 Redwing two of which broke into a rich tutti frutti song from the treetops. Also 1 each of Jay & Treecreeper. A Tawny Owl hooted loudly just once.

The interior was abysmal just 3 Common Gulls on the water and plenty of quiet from arboreal birds. However a bunch of Scrotes with the odd Scumsucker thrown in made plenty of noise to make up for this.

23 Curlew were at Stod Fold with a Meadow Pipit & 2 Roe Deer nearby.

Mixenden Res came up trumps again with absolutely nothing on it.
At approx 1400 hrs DW saw two Redshank on Raggalds Flood an improvement on when I checked it at 1025 hrs - twas empty.

Shibden Valley

0950-1215 hrs a pleasant if arduous walk at times in the sunshine. (It's so hard to budge when you're in deep sludge). Birds were at a premium with prolonged periods of nothingness.
4 Skylark, 3 Meadow Pipit, ditto Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail.
2 Greenfinch, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Buzzard ditto Nuthatch and usual expected woodland critters. No migrant species encountered today.

DM reports 3 Chiffchaff singing from Friday, two being seen. Also a GSW and a long standing Little Owl acquaintance nearer to Northowram on Saturday.

DP had a Jack Snipe early this morning at the bottom of Soil Hill. This is a very good sighting; I haven't had one here in  roughly 3 years. He also saw 8 Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher & 1 Grey Partridge.

Queensbury to Mixenden

The stiff E'ly breeze didn't do any favours as hoped for; Old Guy Rd area just had 2 singing Skylark, 1 Pied Wagtail & a few Meadow Pipit.

Soil Hill: 15 Lapwing, 4 Curlew, 9 Skylark, 7 Meadow Pipit & a pr Oystercatcher. 

Ogden Res: rather quiet but it did produce the first Little Grebe that I've seen for quite a while here. Also 4 Goosander, 10 Common Gull, 2 Nuthatch & 4 Robin, one of which fancied itself as a film star.

18 Curlew were at Stod Fold along with 3/4 Meadow Pipit.

Mixenden Res hit a new low; there wasn't a single bird on the water! A pr Grey Wagtail were flying around at the far end nearest the school.

Queensbury South Redpoll

These photos are from DS who states she has not seen one in her garden for years. I can't recollect seeing any in the park area either. 2 Brambling entered her garden shortly after she sent me this news.
Thanks Denise NK

Low Moor Dams

1020-1135 hrs. Minimal moisture, grey clouds sometimes letting through blue, mainly calm.

4 Skylark, 1 Reed Bunting on the way down to Shelf & several House Sparrow. The Rookery at Shelf Mills had 16 birds attending the nests.

Harold Park Lake and Park Dam between them produced 1 Herring Gull, 2 LBBG & 2 immature that I've still to sort out plus the smaller gulls. Usual Coots & Moorhens.

Also 18 Tufted Duck (a pair of these displaying), 1 each Muscovy Duck & Cormorant ditto Mute Swan. 3 GC & 2 Little Grebe. Several more House Sparrows, 2 Collared Dove, 1 Greenfinch, 7 Blackbird and 1 each GSW & singing Chiffchaff in Park Dam woods.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

SH: 8 Lapwing, 1 Grey Heron,  3 Curlew, 5 Skylark, 12 Meadow Pipit similar House Sparrow.

A Curlew or two near the plantation which had a couple of singing Goldcrest within.

Ogden Res: 5 Goosander & 1 Herring Gull among the smaller gull sp. Visitors may have been influential on the lack of woodland activity.

Golf course across to Mixenden: 1 Stonechat, 11 Curlew, 3 Meadow Pipit. 1 Cormorant and a few  gulls  (2 big immature phase jobs) were.the only birds worth mentioning on the reservoir.

Queensbury South Bonus

0940-1145 hrs the long route which provided a little drama and a rewarding area tick.

Littlemoor bog (aka park) wasn't over exciting but it did produce a large flock of Redwing with Starlings and a few Fieldfare thrown in. Also 2 Greenfinch, Chaffinches, 1 each Mistle & Song Thrush, 7 Blackbird, few Goldfinch & many Crows nearby.

The fields around the Cross Lane/Shaw Lane area held 2 singing Skylark, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit & 4 Snipe.

Green Lane was very quiet but halfway up in the homeward direction a small brown job caught my attention. Instinct told me to forget Mipit and when the bins came up they were locked on to a female Stonechat! This is a significant sighting here; my records from Birdtrack show I haven't reported one in 20 Years.

1 Common Gull was the only bird of that ilk seen before the wind blew my hat off into the very boggy field at the top of Jackson Hill. I climbed over the wall to retrieve it and as I squelched and stumbled 2 more Snipe flushed and flew off.

Local News

1). Pink Footed Geese just flying over Shibden towards Queensbury 0815 hrs.

Just having a cuppa and looked out of the window and the V formation was flying east to west from Brighouse over Shibden Valley more towards Swalesmoor.

DM

2).

The Brambling was back again this morning when it thought no-one was looking! I hadn't seen it since Monday and it didn't show for DP yesterday, although a Sparrowhawk did pass high overhead going north. It looked as though it was on the move so perhaps not the one that sweeps through the garden occasionally.

Denise.

PS - Thanks for the info each NK

Soil Hill to Mixenden

1005-1255 hrs.

Soil Hill: 7 Skylark, 6 Meadow Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail. Moorhen on far bottom pond. My first RLP of the year flew from the top N slope. 1 Roe Deer.

Ogden: couple Curlew, Goldcrest, Kingfisher, Nuthatch,  Song Thrush, 3 Mistle Thrush. 4 Goosander; one female was really struggling to get a Perch down its gullet. This is a fish with a large spiny dorsal fin. Also GSW, Chaffinches, Blackbirds, small Gull contingent. 4 Roe Deer.

The rot set in on the Mixenden leg; apart from 10 Curlew including 8 in flight at Hunter Hill bottom there was just 1 Cormorant & small gulls on the reservoir (I don't count Dullards) with a Goldcrest not on it.

I found this catty pillar crawling up the path from Ogden promenade. I initially thought it was Oak Eggar Moth but I really don't know so it's off to peruse the online British Moths site.
You probably won't believe me but it was so big I had to use both hands to lift it onto the grass and I swear it growled at me a couple of times 😰

Cromwell Bottom

Courtesy of DM on what turned out to be a most satisfactory walk from approx 0955-1145 hrs. We kicked off with no less that 5 Buzzard in the air not quite together but close enough as makes no difference.

A distant flock of Pink-footed Geese heard calling in flight. 2 singing Chiffchaff the first of which was seen in flight. 4 Goosander, 3 Grey Heron, Canadas. A pr noisy Little Grebe, 1 Herring Gull & several smaller gulls. 5 Cormorant.

Arboreal types were mainly active around the well appointed feeding station. These included 1 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Nuthatch, 8/9 Bullfinch, several Blue/Gt Tit and a few Coal Tit with 3 LTT seen elsewhere. Few Chaffinch & Goldfinch, Dunnocks, Robins, Blackbirds.
1 each Song Thrush, Reed Bunting &  Mute Swan, couple Coot & Moorhen.

Park Lane News

Hi Nigel

Nothing very different in the garden over the winter but there was a Brambling yesterday afternoon. I didn't manage get a picture. They've been very scarce here this time with just a couple of passage birds in the autumn.  

There was a bit of a C Crow assembly a couple of times last week with at least 35 birds in the trees. We couldn't see any reason for it. I'm afraid the white crow must have met its end; we haven't seen it since the end of September.

Denise

PS - Good to hear from you again Denise. Thanks for the info and photos NK.

Horton Bank CP

More Bog  trotting from 1030-1130 hrs.

Not so much variety on the water this time but the 29 large gulls on it kept me occupied. One was an adult LBBG while the remainder appeared to be either 2CY or 3CY Herring. Of course there is always a chance some of the young birds were LBBG as I didn't go through everyone with a microscope. 5 BHG were also seen.

1 noisy Little Grebe was present along with the Coots and Moorhens. There were a pr each of Canadas & Mute Swan. These and others werel being fattened up by J Hogg and friends.

Arboreal types were hard to come by but included 1 male Bullfinch, 2 LTT, 3 Blackbird, Robins etc.

I met a dog called Nigel; the owner is either a genius or a bad judge of character. The jury is still out on this one.

Queensbury South

0930-1050 hrs dry, grey skies, a naughty wind at times. Littlemoor Bog was very active, the adjacent fields quiescent at best 😆.
Littlemoor: 2 Greenfinch, 5 Chaffinch, 1 Nuthatch ditto Collared Dove. c17 Fieldfare & c50 Redwing a few of which were singing. 1 Mistle Thrush same Song Thrush, 3 Blackbird, Robins & Blue/Gt Tits. Wren & Woodpiggies.

The fields just held 4 Meadow Pipit & 1 singing Skylark. Mistle Thrush out back on arrival home.

Soil Hill to Mixenden Res

2 singing Skylark top of Fleet Lane.

Soil Hill: 1 each Curlew & Grey Heron, 7 Skylark, c28 Lapwing. A flock of Starling had 3 Fieldfare in among.

Ogden: pr Goosander, 1 Pink-footed Goose in with a bunch of Canadas & a host of small gulls.

Woodland types active including Goldcrest & flirting Dunnocks.

A Bradford birder enquired about Siskin & Redpoll. I told him an afternoon visit was his best bet.

13 Curlew flew around Stod Fold 3/4 times. That was it until a quiet Mixenden Res produced just 1 drake Goosander, 3 Herring, 2 LBBG & the smaller gulls.

Rodley Nature Reserve

Courtesy of DM incorporating the river and canal banks on a Spring like morning.

First off at 1045 hrs was a very welcome flock of 75+ Pink-footed Geese flying high over the edge of the reserve > NW.

The reserve itself was quieter than usual but still enjoyable. 2 Cormorant ditto GC Grebe that were preparing to breed. The Black Swan is still showing well and 3 Mute Swan in situ.

A pr Oystercatcher were busy Moisture catching. 

Gadwall in fair numbers. Pr Tufted Duck & 4 Teal seen. 1 each Grey Heron & Little Grebe.

Also 1 Kestrel, 5 Jay, 4 Mistle Thrush, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Nuthatch, 1 GSW, 1 Pied Wagtail ditto Grey Wagtail. Dunnock were singing all over the shop plus several Tits including LTT.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

This session from 1045-1300 hrs turned out to be rather productive.

Soil Hill: 7 Lapwing, 6 Skylark, 1 Raven ditto LBBG and smaller gulls. The latter all in the air calling, possibly complaining about the Raven. Also 4 Roe Deer seen.

Ogden Back Lane had c22 Curlew, a few Goldfinch, 1 Mistle Thrush & 2 Skylark while the Reservoir produced 3 Whooper Swan! Even though they always stayed in the middle, I was still more than happy to nail them.

The Kingfisher was seen again in flight and a modicum of small gulls were present.

Things quietened down going to Mixenden, just 1 each Meadow Pipit & Raven. Nothing on the Reservoir apart from a departing Cormorant and several small gulls with a few large alongside. I did manage my first Treecreeper here in a long while.