Ogden Water To Mixenden

Once again mainly of exercise value.

Ogden Water: 1 Raven 4 Teal & a few small gulls.

A 🌰 hatch calling at Stod Fold. Mixe… not worth a mention.

For a change I’m going to take up visiting graveyards at night. I’m sure the two readers of this blog will understand it’s just for the Exorcise value 👻

Queensbury South

Littlemoor Park: 1 Nuthatch, 5 Bullfinch ditto Goldfinch, Robin, Dunnock. The adjacent fields sported several gulls incl. a few Herring.

I set off down the track to Shelf Moor but the lack of  birds and more particularly, the icy cold W'ly wind caused for common sense to kick in, so I aborted that one. 

Knowing that the Cross Lane bog and former Snipe refuge was closed, I did a surreptitious creep around part of the site, owned by the Highfield Minerals Company. It basically is a quarry on a smaller scale to the one up on t'hill - nothing doing.

The fields higher up Briguss Road held many gulls and I'm pleased to say 19 Lapwing. 

Ogden Water

Pleasant exercise value in the main especially the stretch from the promenade to Mixenden which was a birding bore of epic proportions.

6 Teal and a Raven at Ogden.

I’ve decided to stop fooling myself that I will get good birds in 2023 so I’m going to spend more time on hobbies like gun running and fentanyl production 🤖.

Back Yard Hooter

The dark early hours this am provided a bonus bird as I reluctantly got out of the festering pit to answer a call of nature.

Nature called back from the trees 🌳 out back, very loudly to boot. A Tawny Owl 🦉 was in full, mainly high pitched voice for a few minutes 😀.

This is the first and only Tawny I’ve had here this year. A close one but it makes it 16 years on the trot for the species.

Wednesday & Tuesday Catch Up

Wed 21 Dec Low Moor Dams.

Surprisingly Harold Park Lake was still half covered with a sheet of thin ice. Just the typical residents in the main so I legged it to...

Park Dam pronto. No ice here but it was notably quieter than my previous saunter.

2 Goosander, 1 Grey Heron & 6 Tufted Duck. A Buzzard called from Royds Hall Wood.

The white alien goose was here in with the many Canadas. Not so many as last time however as these 2 dead birds testify.

Makes me ponder did they perhaps succumb to avian flue and then were partially chewed, or did a Fox 🦊 nail them outright? - I don't think so.

Not too many gulls at large. Several Woodpigeon, 3 Blackbird.

Tues 20 Dec.

Dreams about historical records of Shore Lark, Lapland and Snow Bunting permeated my sleep on Monday night so Swalesmoor was the go to venue for Tuesday.

This was one of the biggest birding mistakes I have ever made. A stiff SW’ly was scouring the tops and a Pied Wagtail was the only bird seen apart from Caaawvids and small gulls 😩.

Ogden Water

5 Teal & the usual suspect gulls. Passerines hard come by; couple Chaffinch, 4 Robin ditto Blackbird. 1 each GSW & Bullfinch.

A Buzzard bottom of Hunter Hill. Couple Mistle Thrush & c18 Canada at Stod Fold.

Mixenden Res is easily dealt with - naff all 🧐.

Ogden Water

The W shoreline is iced up so most Teal have gone, leaving 3 feeding near the Ogden Clough channel.

Also in the channel a very active Kingfisher.

A fair few Common Gull on an icy patch along with a couple of Herring.

A Robin down to 18 inches (that’s Xmas greeting msgs sorted).

Couple Blackbird, 1 Green Woodpecker ditto Jay & Kestrel.

Low Moor Dams

Harold Park Lake was 70% frozen over and all the resident dullards, Coots & Moorhens, of which there were many, crowded into a corner along with 3 Mute Swan. A fair few small gulls were further out to the middle as were a handful of larger.

I thought at first that this large corpse was a Mute Swan cygnet that had died on the ice overnight and then been predated. However I'm not happy with that now as the photos seem to show black primary tips on the wings.

Park Dam had a much greater area of ice free water with more birds to boot.

1 Collared Dove, couple Woodpigeon. c80 Canada, 5 Goosander, 14 Tufted Duck.

2 Grey Heron ditto Mute Swan. 1 GC Grebe

Passerines were almost non existent.

Ogden To Mixenden

Via Soil Hill which was of exercise value only on a cold frosty bright morning.

15 Teal were still on Ogden and as BS texted earlier his Wigeon were long gone.

7 Blackbird & a Fieldfare were seen en route to Mixenden Res which was well iced up. Only gulls and the usual Canada crew seen.

Ogden Water

Very cold at mid day in brilliant sunshine. A big surprise was the lack of people and dogs. I only met one person at the end of the walk, AT, a fellow birder.

 

Woodland birds down to a Blackbird & 3 Robin. Oh alright then a few Crows.

Teal count now at 5, 2 pr & a f. 2 Tufted Duck were present, both drakes.

 The cold was too much for me to carry on to Mixenden so Orf I went.

Queensbury Sth To Horton Bank CP

A calm cold morning in bright, sometimes pesky sunshine. A Mistle Thrush was prospecting DPs garden next door as I got ready.

Littlemoor Park produced 1 Bullfinch, 3 Greenfinch & 6/7 Goldfinch. 1 each Pied & Grey Wagtail.

Not much doing in the fields until I hit the bottom of Bridge Lane, Shelf, where a pr Mistle Thrush & 11 Fieldfare took flight. Then I got lucky, a Little Owl 🦉 perched prominently, glaring at me as I took liberties with the camera 📷. Singles of Herring & BH gull also seen.

Horton Bank Country Park was easily dealt with.  As per the last visit there were no avian visitors, just the residents. Not quite true I suppose as there were more Herring Gulls present than is the norm. Perhaps 13 as opposed to 3/4 LBBG & similar Common.

I looked for leg rings and immediately felt guilty as one bird, possibly a second were missing the all important limb.

Bad News Re Pepper Hill Rheas

Halifax: Pet rhea dies after 'horrific' dog attack

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-63859648

All Quiet On The Ogden Front

A title poached from Eric Maria Remarque. I couldn’t think about including Mixenden; I’ve known livelier cemeteries ⛼.

Ogden Water: 3 Teal - 2 m & 1 f. The f Kestrel ranging far and wide again. 5 Blackbird including 2 males with black beaks. Couple Blue/Gt Tits and the Gullery.

A fair few LTT at Stod Fold and the Canada plus the white alien job.

I noted c8/9 Rook in a field at Raggalds at the start of proceedings.

Soil Hill To Mixenden

Not too shabby for birding this morning in a very cool E'ly blow. Mixenden providing the balancing act being moribund after the previous venues.

In order of appearance: a dozen Goldfinch, 1 Meadow Pipit, couple Common Snipe. I found the fresh plumage remains of a female Pheasant predation. The carcass had been carried off,  probably the work of a 🦊.

I count myself very fortunate to have a Tawny Owl 🦉 pose for me.

19 Canada and the white hybrid goose on Ogden Water. 2 drake Teal feeding on W shoreline where the Kingfisher flew past. Usual gulls present and a wide ranging Kestrel. Also Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker, few Blackbird & Goldcrest.

A Fieldfare out over the back yard on returning home.

Ogden Water To Mixenden

A pr Teal broke the monotony at Ogden feeding on the W shoreline. Of course when they espied moi they drifted off to the middle.

A Dipper was in the main embankment basin and a Kestrel nearby. Otherwise it was down to 3/4 Blackbird and the gulls.

Stod Fold provided 3/4 Stock Dove and 1 each of Jay & Mistle Thrush.

Only gulls on Mixenden Res and a Pied Wagtail.

Queensbury South

A walk in bright sunshine that was interrupted by mist halfway through. Once again nothing to shout about.

Littlemoor Park managed a single Fieldfare and 3 Greenfinch besides the usual thinly spread residents. Rather alarmingly I counted 6 very active Grey Tree Undesirables 🐿️.

The stretch down Bridge Lane was where the mist struck but I did have time to slot a load of  gulls in including a Herring.

A single Meadow Pipit was heard.

Walking back up Briggus Rd a car 🚙 stopped in a hurry and when the driver approached me I thought it’s time to ready the two 🤞finger nostril punch.

Turned out he had mistaken me for BS in the murk and went on to say he was a buddy of HC. He was Sooty from Wakefield, er, his name not the colour 🤣.

Soil Hill and Ogden Water

A glorious calm sunny day so I went to Soil Hill to see nothing at all. Wait! I lie, there were 4/5 Pheasant 😢.

Plenty of gulls on the Denholme side of the bottom road.

The Ogden plantation Buzzard was waiting for me and put on a good if short duration glide past.

A single drake Teal was parked in the middle of Ogden water which also held numerous Gulls incl. quite a few large species.

Others: Grey & Pied Wagtail singles, 1 GSW, couple Goldfinch.

Ponder this Calderdale Council Tree 🌳 Planters:

When the trees have grown What are you intending to do with the tons of plastic tubing you have blessed the hillsides with?

Meanwhile Just Down The Road

 https://www.facebook.com/100006664414100/posts/green-parakeet-in-our-garden-again-with-pale-blue-tail-feathers-crake-drive-west/3478146115750835/

Ogden Water & Mixenden Res

Not a lot going on at either location on a dry morning with a S'ly blow.

Ogden: only gulls and dullards on the water. The Chaffinch flock has diminished and split up. c20 birds in the Skirden channel and a handful down on the W shore by the overflow.

2 GSW, 1 Bullfinch, 5/6 Gt Tit stood out.

A Dipper was in the brook at Stod Fold. c22 Canada Geese were in a field nearer to Mixenden Res along with an almost leucistic hybrid with pink bill and legs.

4/5 Herring Gull were on the drink along with a 2/3 LBB, a few Common & several BHG.

Only other bird seen was a Pied Wagtail.

A Queensbury Garden Update

 

Another Nordic type yesterday. The previous one was in 2020 and I think it first appeared on. Once again the only Jackdaw to have come in for food despite there being plenty of them around in the immediate area. It went off south so it'll be interesting to see if it reappears. 

Also >S this morning, about 30 Redwings. A couple of Collared Doves, not seen since May, in the garden but Jays, which have been regular visitors for several years have been missing since the beginning of the year. 

Denise.

Thanks for the great photo and news Denise. 

NK

Soil Hill To Ogden

 

I missed a Wesley Snipes film last night so to make amends I went up the hill this am to look for his relatives 😁. I found 4 Common Snipe, 5 Pheasant, 8/9 Meadow Pipit and one other. 5 Roe Deer also present.

A Buzzard was over Ogden plantation, hanging in the air thanks to the very fresh and cold S'ly wind.

Ogden Water is fully supplied now and if this rain keeps up it may climb onto the pathway. 2 Teal and a few gulls on the drink.

Just a few Tit sp. heard and no sign of the recent large Chaffinch flock.

I did check Raggalds Flood on the trek up, but nothing at all in the field or on the water.

Soil Hill To Ogden

The urge to do it wild and wet was too hard to resist this am so off t’ Ill from Ell I did traipse. In reverse order I sure managed a thorough soaking 💦. The wild bit was ok: 10 Common Snipe on the hill; 9 down the bottom & 1 on top. That was it though apart from a couple Meadow Pipit and a Blackbird. There were masses of Starling on the S slope and a bunch of BHG. Also 5 Roe Deer seen.

Ogden Water is once again just that - levels rising at pace. The gull numbers have dropped dramatically. The Chaffinch flock was in the usual place and still in large numbers. Also 5 m Blackbird, a mixed Tit flock & a very noisy Kestrel.

Weekend Birds

Bit of a misnomer this, there weren't hardly any! Horton Bank CP on Saturday was abandoned; Tufteds & Goosanders all gone leaving just the morass of residents..

Today, Sunday 20th Littlemoor Park was poor. 1 each Mistle Thrush & Nuthatch. A couple Goldfinch ditto Pied Wagtail.

Bridge Lane provided an interesting moment or three. A pr Rook were have a bill fight or at least a trial of strength. It just occurred to me was it a pre nuptial action, in November?

Usual load of small gulls in the fields, mainly BHG.

Quiet Usual Route

Minimal arboreal activity at Ogden Water today. 7 Blackbird stood out.

The Kingfisher posed at a distance but hey I still managed this award winning photo 🤣.

1 Grey Wagtail also down the drain.

Good numbers of gulls, large and small incl. a big un I tried to turn into a 1CY Cachinnans but then I realised I have to sleep at night.

Mixenden Res was very poor again - 1 Pied Wagtail, usual gulls & a couple Blackbird.