Fishing Fish Eagle

 

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Spring like weather albeit with a boisterous W'ly blow.

The Raggalds sports ⚽️ field was rotten with gulls.

Within 15 mins of arriving at Ogden I knew I’d dropped a clanger. It was like Butlins and Happy 😃 Holidays had joined forces with Dogs 🐶 R Us. 

I trudged on to Mixenden Res with no birds to disturb my depression apart from 4/5 LTT at Stod Fold.

A welcome sight 👀 there was the Goldeneye population standing at 5 birds. 2 m & 3 f floating together.

Queensbury South

Thursday 30Dec. Circumstances permitted only a quick saunter down south and part Shelf Moor. Appalling birding eased only by a single Skylark that called briefly on two separate occasions.

Mixenden Res

A brief visit this am turned up just 4 Goldeneye and 1 each of Cormorant & drake Goosander. Among the numerous gulls present I managed to sort out an Herring or two and an adult LBBG.

I Want One!

 

Queensbury South Long Route

1050-1255 hrs. Down to Shelf Moor returning home via the Green Lane route. Not overly vibrant with birds but it sure was a change from biting the kitchen walls during the rain stopped play period.

Bunch of Goldfinch near the golf club house. Male Stonechat at Shelf Moor along with 17 Canada and numerous small gull species. 4 Moorhen and a Brown Hare. A single Meadow Pipit. The Bog was bird free apart from a Wren.

Green Lane produced 1 Green Woodpecker ditto Mistle Thrush & Moorhen. A LBB was in with the several smaller gulls.

Quick Trip Down South

Siezed the opportunity to get through the door when the rain ceased at 1120 hrs. The SE wind made it's presence felt so I just walked for an hour or so.

The highlight wasn’t avian but vulpine. A Fox was crossing a field at Shelf Moor and at first I thought it had dodged the camera lens. Then to my surprise it turned and headed toward me so I shot it twice.

c26 Canada, 1 Pied Wagtail, Caaawvids incl. 2 Rook. 3/4 Common Gull & c48 BHG along with a bunch of Starling. The Cross Lane bog coughed up 2 Snipe which immediately took flight, coughing.

A Slant On Santa

 

Casual Local Annual Review

Starting retrospectively with probably the poorest Autumn/Winter I've known. It's been awful for Fieldfare and Brambling but hey who cares we've had some excellent rain, mist and fog.🌁 On the plus side I'm content with the local sightings of Pink-footed Geese.

The award for Clanger of the Year is Red Grouse believe it or not. A close second but more acceptable given it's migrant status and continual decline is Tree Pipit.

Great satisfaction with breeding success and sightings of LEO and Barn Owl. Less so Tawny but the real failure is Little Owl. I managed a heady single sighting.

Let's quickly emphasise my Bird Of The Year - Osprey at Doe Park which hung around for just over a month 😂.

A hard luck story is the Mixenden Res Iceland Gull seen earlier in the year, I missed it by 10 minutes.

More than satisfied with the Whooper Swans at Mixenden Res.

I was lucky to get a single Spotted Flycatcher ditto Black Redstart but am satisfied with my Redstart, Wheatear and Whinchat tally. Same applies to Grasshopper Warbler and Sedge Warbler.

Plans for the future include as always to try and give up birdwatching. I'll also wait for Covid to devolve to epidemic status so I can get more beer 🍺 down my neck. A new hobby I have in mind is to try Alligator farming in my back yard 🐊. Yes yes I am aware of the potential neighbour problem.

Show Stealer At Mixenden

Ogden set the scene for a poor morning with 1 GSW ditto Reed Bunting. Also Coal Tit plus a few LTT and 3/4 Blackbird. Nothing exciting among the gull community.

Only gulls on the water at Mixenden but the excitement levels went through the roof when I bumped into a Goshawk with a falconer attached to it.

The male bird was kind to me and allowed a couple of photos. It even permitted an enjoyable 20 minute chat with the gentleman it owned and I learned a few notable facts about falconry.

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Just the usual gulls on Ogden water. The trees produced several Tits including 12 LTT and a Treecreeper which hung around for several minutes but wouldn’t pose for the camera.

Also 1 Green Woodpecker, 5/6 Blackbird & a Mistle Thrush.

A drake Goosander was on Mixenden Res along with the gulls. A Grey Wagtail also present.

Elsewhere a single Barn Owl showing well.

Queensbury South Short Version

Because of the Fog I Mist all the Birds 😭😁. Littlemoor Park was jumping with hundreds of charity runners but this had no impact on anything avian; there simply weren't any birds seen.

I scraped a couple of Blackbird and 3 Goldfinch in the adjacent fields.

The Cross Lane Bog looked murky enough to cast hope for anything lurking. There was something: 2 Brown Hares running away from me. One of these flushed the only Snipe seen.

Ogden To Mixenden

Despite conditions being almost identical to Wednesday's visit, today was a real downer. Woody birds were hard to come by and only a very noisy Ogden Kingfisher saved my sanity.

Just a Meadow Pipit at Stod Fold and usual gulls at Mixenden.

Ogden To Mixenden Res

A cold bright morning making for good walking and initially some good birding. Ogden Res was jumping with numerous gulls spread all over the water.

Arboreal jobs were kind to me, in fact I got an annual by the Lodge House after a false start on a previous visit. A Redpoll called loudly and flew directly overhead. 

Also 2/3 Siskin, 1 each GSW & Green Woodpecker 1 Nuthatch ditto 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Blackbird.

A Buzzard flew NE over the golf course.

Mixenden Res - best forgotten, apart from gulls.

Leeshaw Res and Mixenden

Courtesy of DP. Cold and windy but mostly dry. Leeshaw: Numerous gulls spread around fields as well as on the drink. 2 Goosander. Plenty of Redwing flying around with a few Fieldfare in among. A flock of Greylag feeding. DP managed a brief Kingfisher sighting but I employed great skill to avoid it. Also 4/5 Chaffinch.

We went down to Mixenden Res for the Iceland Gull reported by DJS - refer Calderdale blog. There were numerous gulls. We sifted through them and were satisfied it had departed leaving the usual crew behind.

Eccup Reservoir

Courtesy of DP on a cold, windy but bright sunlit day. The Great Northern Diver had been showing but our luck was out with it. However, good compensation came in the shape of other waterfowl.

2 Drake Goldeneye, 1 f Common Scoter & c35 Wigeon.

Good to see 2/3 Red Kite & 2 Buzzard. Also couple Grey Wagtail, few Cormorant, Mute Swan and the gulls.

Raggalds Ogden Mixenden

c35 Lapwing were in flight circling the Raggalds sports field with another small party on the field at Roper & Green Lane corner.

Ogden Res is maintaining it's poor performance pertinent to woodland species. 1 GSW, few Blackbirds & Robins, 2 Reed Bunting, Chaffinch. Quite a few Common Gull in with the BHGs & 1 LBBG.

Stod Fold was crawling with numerous Jackdaw. Also 1 each Robin & Dunnock. 

Mixenden Res turned up a drake Goosander & the usual gulls. 3 Goldcrest flitting through waterside bushes.

Queensbury South

Littlemoor Park was busier than anticipated; a fair few finch and tit species were doing the rounds.

1 Greenfinch, 4 Bullfinch, couple Goldfinch & Chaffinch. 1 Coal, 2 LT plus several Blue & Gt Tit. 1 Blackbird and a multitude of CoRvids.

The outlying fields produced a couple Meadow Pipit, 1

Pied Wagtail ditto Kestrel. I went down Bridge Lane to find numerous small gulls but no Lapwing. 

This spurred me on to visit the Cross Lane corner field especially as it has recovered some more of it’s former juncus wealth. I hit paydirt; 8 Snipe took off chugging and chuntering. A few more small gulls present nearby.

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Blue sky bright sunlight freezing temperatures. Good for walking the wilderness unhindered by birds 😎.

Ogden: small gulls, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Bullfinch ditto Blackbird, Blue & Gt Tits.

Mixenden Res: 1 Cormorant & numerous small gulls.

There was a fair portion of Lapwing at Raggalds but they had relocated to the field at the junction of Roper and Green Lane. The gulls were positioned in the field at the bottom of Perspiration Road.

Disaster On Two Fronts

Raggalds had just a couple of Lapwing in among the sports field gulls and starlings. The flood held just a few gulls including a couple of large sub adult phase jobs.

Ogden Res reduced me from Birder to non Birder for the duration. The logic being how can you be a birder when there are no birds around?

I busied myself looking at the results of  Storm Arwen. Quite a few large trees blown down and several branches blocked the circular path.

I slipped up en route to Mixenden; 1 each Dunnock, Mistle Thrush, Grey & Pied Wagtail. The Reservoir just held several gulls.

Access to the reservoir from the NW corner was blocked by a large fallen tree which had snapped a metal power cable in two. Being a public spirited naive simpleton I decided to report this to Northern Power Grid. 2 attempts were made taking up some 47 minutes between them all to no avail. At least I got to hear some music.

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Cold wet and windy so I thought something juicy may have blown in on the usual stretches of H2O I am compelled to visit or ignore, mood depending. 

Ogden Res bombed; just usual gulls & 1 Herring. Blackbirds stood out from the crowd supported by Robins. One offs were Treecreeper & Bullfinch. 3/4 Dunnock creeping around.

Only a Mistle Thrush seen en route to Mixenden Res but I was rewarded with what I believe to be my latest ever Goldeneye. Twas a female and stayed as far away from me as it could, proven by this superb mix of mutilated pixels below.

Nothing else but a mix of gulls present.

Littlemoor and Shelf Moor

A satisfactory walk despite the cold; I finally solved the missing Lapwings mystery. This being the lack of them in the fields near High Cross Lane.

After a slow start in the park (few Blackbird & Robins) I sauntered down 2/3rds of Bridge Lane. Lo and behold a flock took flight near to the top Shelf Moor houses so I walked along the track there and some 250 yards along I located their favoured field.

I estimated c65 birds present which is a conservative count.

Other birds: 8 Canada, 1 Common & c12 BH gulls. The lush garden at Fly Laithe stables was crawling with House Sparrers 👍.

Low Moor Dams

Harold Park Lake. 2 Cormorant, c16 Tufted Duck & 11

Goosander. 1 GC Grebe, 4 Herring, a few Common & several BH Gulls. 3 Mute Swan ditto Blackbird. Coots, Moorhens.

Park Dam. 6 Cormorant, 5 GC & 2 Little Grebe. Small gulls & c28 Canadas. 2 Tufted Duck ditto Coot & Co. 1 Robin, 3 Blackbird and at a nearby garden feeder station 7/8 Collared Dove.

OK what’s happening to our Goldeneyes?

Queensbury Right Place Right Time

I had a spontaneous urge to do the local area this am so I dashed out the door and within a couple of minutes and some 120 yards away I hit paydirt. 

In Park Lane I heard some cackles and grunting; overhead was a bunch of low flying Pink-footed Geese. I saw them fly over my house area and head in the CO-OP direction. My view was partially obscured by the trees and I thought the count to be c80 birds.

Amazingly 2 minutes later I received a Whats App mobile bone photo from SD who was by her car and spotted ‘em overhead.

Things quietened down afterwards; Nuthatch, 3 Blackbird, 1 Kestrel ditto Pied Wagtail & a few BHG.

Raggalds to Mixenden Res

Cold and very bright lending the morning to pleasant walking and minimal birding. The first half was the busiest while the second permitted retina relaxation. 

A few Lapwing in among several small gulls on the Raggalds sports field. 

Soil Hill top was grim so I put on my imbecile head and slopped along the Ned Hill quagmire. This was worthwhile; I startled a male Sparrowhawk which flew off carrying a Blackbird in it’s talons.

Also 12 Pheasant flew off in every direction.

Ogden was moribund. A pr RLP,  c11 LTT, couple Blackbird, 3 Robin & a GSW. Nothing notable among the gullage on the ullage.

A Reed Bunting by the Lodge House and just a Meadow Pipit seen between there and Mixenden.

The Reservoir coughed up 1 each of Cormorant, Grey Heron & Grey Wagtail. Small gulls all over the shop and only 5 dogs 🐶 today.

Soil Hill to Mixenden Res

Heard 3 calls over Perseverance Rd, firmly believe it was a Snow Bunting but bird not seen. Scoured accessible parts of Soil Hill top; nothing doing. 

Ogden Res: 1 GSW. Activity from Tits including several LTT. Also a few Goldcrest & a couple of Siskin. Usual gulls. Also Mr & Mrs AC walking around.

Mixenden Res. 1 Mistle Thrush, 3 Blackbird ditto Redwing. Pied Wagtail & c70 Jackdaw. Only a mix of gulls on the water.

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Quiet again throughout. Only small gull sp. on Ogden water and very limited Passerine activity. Couple Blackbird ditto Robin. 1 Jay & 2 GSW.

The hedgerow at Hunter Hill bottom near Mixenden Res produced 1 Fieldfare, ditto Great Tit, 4 Mistle Thrush & 2 Blackbird.

Mixenden held lots of small gulls including a good portion of Common. The only large Gull present caused me id. problems (again? I hear you snigger 😲). It had the mantle colour and bull head feature of a YLG but at distance I couldn’t convince myself I’d got the primary mirrors right so it won’t get claimed.

Grey Wagtail flying across N Bridge HX.

Queensbury to Horton Bank CP

Only a few BHG in the fields down the road. An adult male Fox, presumably a recent road kill was also seen.

Shelf Moor was busier but no migrants around. 

25 Canada, few Common & several BH gulls. Rooks & Crows, 1 Meadow Pipit ditto Blackbird. House Sparrers n Starlings doing OK here.

Horton Bank CP: exciting is a word I must remember doesn’t apply here (does it apply anywhere?).

Pr Mute Swan, 1 drake Tufted Duck, 3/4 Herring Gulls & the hordes of BHG. A few Common in among. Few Coot, a Moorhen miasma. Passerines passed by save a Blackbird & Robin.