For those with strong stomachs

 

Queensbury South

It’s got to that time of year where one reluctantly acknowledges the local environment is more tempting to explore than those further afield. Accordingly the bird species inevitably shrinks and so it came to pass.

3 GSW & a Nuthatch in Littlemoor Park along with 3 Grey Tree Rats & 2 Speckled Wood flutterbye. The surrounding fields coughed up c11 Meadow Pipit, 1 each BH & Common Gull. A Kestrel had a prolonged session of Crow harassment involving 3/4 birds. Also a few Goldfinch, 1 each Grey & Pied Wagtail, couple Rook.

The pitfalls of Birding. Episode 23 of  random observations: rocks in walking boots. Despite shaking said hooves before setting off within 20 minutes a large piece of gritstone makes it’s presence felt pressing sharply against the sole of ones plates.

Physical discomfort shoved aside the mind tries to rationalise the rocks presence when no gravelly ground has been trod upon 👣. I wouldn’t say this mornings specimen was exceptionally huge but I did receive a tidy sum from a local builder who needed a foundation stone 🤫.

Trip Abandoned Half Time

You know that really wet rain, light fine stuff, not normal rain that isn’t so wet? 🤓 Well that’s wot this morning brought along with the grey mist that fortunately curbs all thoughts of attempting the Hill from Hades 😊.

Ogden Res: 1 Cormorant, 12 LBBG, 7 Common, c50 BH & a couple Herring Gull. 2 Blackbird and 3 healthy looking Mistle Thrush spaced out evenly on a telegraph wire. An attempt at photographs proved futile.

At this point I took the opportunity to save my legs and avoid more misery by not going to Mixenden 😬.

Now for something educational. Why is Phoenicurus phoenicurus and it's congener(s) called Redstart ? Well apparently the Anglo Saxon word for an animals tail is - start. 😎

Doe Park No Show

No sight of the Osprey at Doe Park today up to 1515 hours with 4/5 birders doing their bit. 1 Buzzard ditto Raven, Kestrel & Sparrowhawk noted. Plenty of gulls overhead at one stage with a few on the shoreline along with a couple of Cormorant. Others include Bullfinch & Grey Wagtail. Good to hava a chat with the dedicated few including BS who kindly ferried me home.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Home: Early hours this a.m a Tawny Owl called briefly from across the frog. 

Soil Hill: Couple Meadow Pipit, 1 Chaffinch. Pr Jay at Back Lane.

Ogden Res: 7 LBB, 2 Common & c40 BH Gulls. 1  Cormorant, 2 GSW.

Nothing from the promenade to Hunter Hill bottom where several Meadow Pipit and a Green Woodpecker were present. 

Mixenden Res continues to amaze and disappoint. 1 each Cormorant & Pied Wagtail.

Best occurrence was when an Emperor Dragonfly landed on my chest for c10 seconds. Pity I couldn’t get the camera on it, the lil cutie.

Doe Park Hooray Osprey

1030-1435 hrs. The Osprey put in five appearances during the time I spent at Doe Park, most of them brief. 4 of them were down at the end of the lake where the trees are at Denholme Clough bottom. On 2 occasions it had company, the first one being a couple of Crows.

A photographer/birder who spent some time chatting told me he saw it dive twice and remain fishless.

Other cast members: 1 each Buzzard, Raven, Grey Heron, Cormorant & a Dipper which flew over a good portion of the the reservoir. A few LBB & 1 BH Gull. 2 Jay, 1 Swallow ditto Grey & Pied Wagtail.

From the bushes a couple of WW/Chiff calls were heard.

Doe Park Osprey

At 1318 hrs the Osprey came over the bridge from the Hewenden direction and continued flying directly south without being seen again as at 1430 hrs.

Also 1 Buzzard ditto Kestrel, BHG, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Nuthatch, Swallow & Blackbird seen.

It’s Hard Being A Birder

 

Soil Hill to Mixenden

A humdrum session with nothing out of the ordinary to report. 1 Skylark and a few Meadow Pipit on Soil Hill along with a couple Chaffinch & a few Goldfinch.

Ogden Res: 1 GC Grebe, 4 Cormorant, 2 Herring, 1 Common, 8/9 LBB & c26 BH Gulls. Nothing at Carrs Beck and just 5/6 Meadow Pipit at Hunter Hill bottom.

Mixenden Res: the famine continues; 1 female Tufted Duck.

Doe Park Delivers Again

Took a while but within 10 minutes of me walking away from the bridge our celebrated visitor the Osprey flew in at 1300 hrs and promptly dived into the water at Doe Park. It failed to catch a fish and then spent the next 10 minutes circling high above. I'd like to say I couldn't get any good photos because the sun was in my eyes, fact is I'm a sh*te photographer 💩.

Other players: 1 calling Tawny Owl, 2 GSW ditto Cormorant. 1 Raven ditto Jay. 2 Chiffchaff  ditto Buzzard one of which circled in close proximity to said Osprey. A third raptor being a Kestrel.

c100 Canada & c20 BHG also present. Couple Goldfinch plus a couple Grey Wagtail.

On arrival back in the place where the Devil fears to tread, a Raven was circling over Black Dyke Mills pursued by 3 Crows. It hung around for over 10 minutes and isn't a regular visitor here.

Cold Edge to Mixenden

Exercise value only. The E’ly breeze kept everything down it seems.  Cold Edge: Jay, Kestrel & couple Robin. Few Meadow Pipit & a couple Goldfinch. Couple LBB & several BH Gulls.

From Withens down to Ogden then across to Carrs Beck thence Hunter Hill bottom not a sausage other than Crows 😵‍💫.

Mixenden Res now clear of security guard and roads accessible once more however only birds 1 each Cormorant & Moorhen 🥸.

Queensbury to Mixenden

Another slog with sparse avian action but at least I got a long awaited annual 😁. 7  Common Gull in Old Guy Road and several small gulls on the Raggalds sports field.

A LBBG and a Sparrowhawk were arguing over Soil Hill. Just 2 GC Grebe, 3 Cormorant and a few BHG on Ogden.

A Spotted Flycatcher flitting about the fence at Carrs Beck. No doubt the same bird seen by DJS earlier.

Security guard and dog still patrolling Mixenden but allowing people to walk round the inside reservoir walls. Still nothing on the water. A Swallow, GSW and Blackbird seen.

I’m glad I didn’t put my money where my spacious mouth is; I said the Osprey has gone. SS went down to Doe Park where it is still fishing 😬.

Soil Hill to…Aborted

Exercise value only overall with the golf course section being abandoned due to exhausted enthusiasm 😵‍💫.

Soil Hill: 3/4 Rook, 1 Meadow Pipit. An unusual sighting was a mixed large flock of Goldfinch & Swallows at the junction of the Ned Hill track and Coal Lane.

A Kestrel at Back Lane. The woods around Ogden Water deafened with silence. 10/11 LBB & c70 BH gulls on the water along with a couple of GC Grebe. The overflow had a wading Stock Dove with a Grey Wagtail overhead.

A Bradshaw field held c35 LBBG, 3/4 Rook & 4 Woodpigeon with 3/4 Swallow nearby. Now where did I put those knitting needles 🤓.

Sweltering Swillington Ings

Courtesy of DP. Another hot day with hardly any breeze, but I'm not complaining; 4 annuals came my way. Little Stint in with 3 Ringed Plover. A Hobby one of a couple whizzed across the track and zoomed away as is their wont. A Greenshank flew close overhead calling thrice as we ate lunch.

I would never have got no.4 had it not been for Dave methodically 'scoping a far shoreline. A Ruddy Shelduck eventually came out to give reasonable views.

The 'scoping also produced 12 Curlew on a different section of the same shoreline. A cream crown Marsh Harrier showed 3 times. Among the usual duck hordes were 4 Pochard and in with the Lapwing were c10 Snipe. A Peregrine put these up a couple of times. Other raptors were 2 Buzzard and a Kestrel. 3/4 Cettis Warblers heard. 2 Grey Heron & 2/3 Little Egret.

Doe Park Swelters

Arrival 1030 hrs departure almost on my knees and 2 kgs lighter at 1415 hrs. 1 Sparrowhawk ditto Green Woodpecker. 2 Jay, 4 Grey Wagtail.

Saw some new faces and a couple of old ones all looking for a particular bird which didn't show.

Several Swallow, c14 BH & 1 large gull overhead. 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Green Woodpecker calling as was a Tawny Owl.

Spankingly Spiffin to chat to Two Kingfisher Sharon again.

c13 Linnet at Mountain on the way back.

Cold Edge to Mixenden

I bumped into AT near Lumb Terrace where he’d searched for the Black Redstart so we went back for another attempt without success. 1 Wheatear was stood on a wall with a Kestrel atop a telling graph pole. 

Further up the Lane were 2 Little Grebe on Spring dam. I managed my first Whitethroat in 6/7 weeks further up the track. A few Goldfinch and several Meadow Pipit were flitting around. No doubt the latter were what attracted a male Sparrowhawk that slid past me flying low. Also 1 Chiffchaff, 3 WW, 1 Reed Bunting and several Swallow. 

I then hit a brick wall; the stage from Withens down the track thence to Carrs Beck coughed up a Blackbird & a couple Meadow Pipit only! A Green Woodpecker at HH bottom & a GSW nearby. 

Odds Bodkins at Mixenden Res. The K9 warning sign previously photographed has been removed with the gate being left open. This could have been vandalism but instead of a Security van on the banks was a YWA vehicle. 🧐. Oh the birds? Nichts! 🥸. 

Mmmmm Delicious

https://apple.news/AradUbPtET1m22emO6cCBtA

Cold Edge Area

1 Black Redstart ditto Whinchat. 3 Wheatear & a LEO. Also 1 each Blackbird & Mistle Thrush. Few Meadow Pipit & Swallow. 4 Tufted Duck & BH Gulls.

Thanks to DP for the lift.

Doe Park Delivers

My third attempt at getting good prolonged views of the juvenile Osprey paid off today. My photos don’t reflect the magnificent display this creature put on but the memories will linger for as long as my brain cells hold up.

The wait for it to reappear (I’d missed an earlier show by 10 minutes) was enjoyable in the company of a lady from Haworth.

We watched the bird for probably 35 minutes before my stomach told me it thought my throat had been cut. Never have I experienced such a period filled with excitement, joy and a scintilla of exasperation over a UK sighting.

Other players: 1 Buzzard ditto Green Woodpecker. 2 Cormorant & 2 GSW ditto Grey Wagtail. Few Swallow, Gulls large and small.

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Soil Hell: nothing apart from a couple Swallow and a distant flock of small whatever.

Pr RLP in Back Lane.

Ogden Res: 2 Cormorant ditto GC Grebe. 1 Common, 9/10 LBB & 15/16 BH gulls. Couple House Martin and Swallow.

Only birds at bottom of Carrs Beck was a pr Blackbird.

A check at the top of the Mixenden stile fence produced a fine male Redstart then it was downhill all the way.

I think it’s fair to say the days of birding Mixenden Res are over.