Swillington (Crowd) Ings

Courtesy of DP on a warm sunny day that brought some good birds out and flocks of Homo Sapiens.

50 Whooper Swan were a very pleasant unexpected surprise.

Finally I got my first Kestrel of the year, interacting with a Buzzard.

Other newbies were c25 Sand Martin & 2 Shelduck. I discounted a far distant Black-tailed Godwit viewed through a local birder's scope - it was just an orange blob.

The pr Black-necked Grebe were in their usual haunt but the Slavonian Grebe wandered far out and photos weren't possible.

3 Cettis Warblers heard and a booming Bittern. Meadow Pipits & a few Skylark displaying.

7/8 Goldeneye spread thinly. A few Shoveler & Pochard and the hordes of  Tufted Duck.

I'm running out of steam now. Numerous Gulls, Geese, GCGs, 4 Cormorant ditto Reed Bunting & a Grey Heron.

We missed an Osprey & Wheatear but they can wait...

Gale Stricken Soil Hill Route

I've been out in plenty of driving SW'ly blasts up the Devil's Peak 👹 but this one gets the medals. I can hear by the rattling noise that I've still got my teeth albeit at the expense of a rewarding session.

Meadow Pipits and Skylarks were displaying and singing throughout but Curlew & Lapwing numbers were down to very low counts of 2 or 3. 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Greenfinch ditto Pied Wagtail & 2 Blackbird present.

I still have to work out whether the Roe Deer pair I saw were running or being blown along.

Ogden Res provided an interesting visual; a female Goosander caught a big frog and after a brief tussle transferred it from gob to gullet.

9 large gulls present included 1 adult Herring & 4 adult LBBs.

Also 1 singing Chiffchaff ditto Song Thrush, GSW, pr Blackbird.

The golf course/Stod Fold route was being wind blasted so no Curlew seen or heard.  1 each Skylark and Reed Bunting & a few Meadow Pipit observed.

Mixenden Res was dire, no Gulls at all.

1 Moorhen, pr Jay, 1 singing Chiffchaff.

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Started off with rain and blustery blusterness but got more Spring like after a while. This lead to more better birding throughout the walk.

Ogden Res: 2 duetting Chiffchaff, 3 Jay together having trouble with 3 Magpie. Chaffinch & Gt Tit were the predominant singers. 5 Siskin high up in the conifers also 1 Green Woodpecker, 4 Blackbird & a couple Robins seen.

There were no Gulls to start with but 1 Common, 2 Herring & 4 LBBG flew in and hung around for some 20 minutes.

c22 Curlew feeding in earnest at Stod Fold with a pr RLP up the hill.

Nearer to Mixenden a mixed flock of thrushes were in one tree. 2 Mistle for sure & around 15 Redwing & 9 Fieldfare. 1 Green Woodpecker laffing.

The reservoir had a good count of 5 maybe 6 Grey Wagtail that were very active. About 9 large sub adult phase gulls left within a couple of minutes of clocking me. Nothing else on the water.

Usual Mind Numbing Route

A really boring struggle in a SW/W'ly blow AC on Soil Hill saved me a trip down to the bottom. There was nothing else doing until I disturbed a pr Grey Partridge at Ogden Plantation.

The reservoir was a joke, except I'm not laughing. 2 Herring & a few small gulls.

1 Green Woodpecker heard.

DP reported a couple Stonechat & c18 Curlew in the Stod Fold area. I managed the Curlew and a noisy RLP.

Mixenden Res had a breeding plumaged Cormorant, 1 Moorhen ditto Jay & Goldcrest. Just a single Herring flew overhead.

Time I started to resurrect knitting with my feet and teeth - again.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Rather windy on the Hellish Hill where the heavy haulage and dirty digging is underway once more with a vengeance.

Curlew were whizzing round at such a rate I faced the problem of double counting so I'll settle for 11 birds minimum. 

1 Grey Heron ditto Stonechat, pr Oystercatcher, few Lapwing, Meadow Pipit & Skylark. 

Ogden Plantation provided me with a Woodcock that must have been imbibing rocket fuel they way it zoomed off. Again Curlew in evidence & a Stock Dove.

The reservoir held a Tufted Duck drake, 3/4 each LBB & Herring Gull. A small number of Siskin were high up in a canopy of conifers. 

Singles of Reed Bunting, Skylark & Green Woodpecker about the golf course. Stod Fold was busy with at least 25 Curlew.

Mixenden Res held just one distant small Gull sp. only. Also 3 Grey Wagtail, 2 LTT & a singing Chiffchaff.

DS had 2 Brambling in her reserve this am. Both DP & DW eventually clocked them.

Other Queensbury Birders Photos

The Brambling returned to DS garden again Sunday.

DW got some juicy birds on Sunday, including Whooper Swan, booming Bitterns & Cettis Warbler. Here are photos of  Slavonian, GC & BN Grebes.

Queensbury South Long Route

A pleasant Spring like atmosphere in the main so the walk was good at the expense of limited bird interaction until I encountered my first migrant passerine.

I received an email from Denise as I walked up Park Lane. A Brambling was in her garden briefly.

I had a look in the garden but like most of Littlemoor Park there was not much bird visibility. However there was lots of noise from the common species including Song Thrush and Nuthatch. 

The fields were quiet too; 4 Lapwing, ditto Skylark, 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Reed Bunting, c10 thinly spread Meadow Pipit.

At one stage I heard the faint calls of very distant Geese which appeared to be in flight. I can't bring myself to state what they were on such flimsy evidence.

Green Lane was quiet too but it did turn up my first Chiffchaff of the year. It appeared almost unsure of itself, issuing 3 brief stuttering calls.  Also a Moorhen on the pond and 4 Linnet flying over.

Good Local Birding

I've never raved about local birding but there were some good local birds in today's location.

1 Slavonian & 2 BN Grebe also 5 Little & 7 GC.

3 Booming Bittern, 4 Cettis Warbler, 100s Wigeon & Tufted Duck. 5 Shoveler, several Pochard & Gadwall, few Teal.1 Little Egret.

Loads of varied noisy Gulls, Lapwing Greylags & Canadas. 4 Reed Bunting ditto Meadow Pipit but just 1 Skylark.

North Queensbury and Oats Royd

An afternoon sortie which although quiet and hard graft to boot, did provide an annual bird.

The Fleet Lane fields just had a couple of Meadow Pipit and a Common Gull.

Roper Lane had a Chaffinch, 1 Pied Wagtail, a few more Common Gulls & a Sparrowhawk.

(One wonders what one has to do so that one may get a Kestrel).

Oats Royd: 4/5 Goldfinch, 4 Canada, c18 Jackdaw. 5 Linnet were initially calling in flight before I managed a singer atop a tree. Just a Robin & Gt Tit were the only others seen.