Whiteholme Reservoir Walk

Another long slog today taking in the 4 reservoirs in this area. Only Whiteholme had any shoreline. Blackstone, Light Hazzles & Warland were brimful. Quite sunny but the fresh E'ly kept the temperature cool and the birds even cooler.

6 Wheatear, of which a couple provided decent photographs.

A pr Raven probably the ones from last week were doing the rounds and I managed to get a poor distant shot of one eating carrion.

1 Golden Plover ditto Curlew, 3 Common Sandpiper.

3/4 Pied Wagtail, c10 Skylark & many Meadow Pipit. A pr adult LBBG were parked up on a distant rock or buoy with 3 distant big gulls upstairs. 4/5 Peacock flutterbye and KM of BOG also doing the rounds.

Hardcastle Crags Walshaw Dean

I bit off more than I could chew today totally underestimating the distance while forgetting the terrain due to the ageing process - I hope. Still it had it’s moments:

Two pair of Dippers visiting nest sites to feed noisy young. They proved too fast moving and I could only get one half decent photo. Also two 2 Grey Wagtail performing at different locations.

Wheatear were showing well a total of 10 birds being seen with 5 together on the same rock. One robust male looked like a Greenland contender.

10 Oystercatcher, 1 Red Grouse, pr Snipe, numerous Curlew, 6/7 Lapwing, 3 Pied Wagtail.

1 Kestrel, 6 Blackbird ditto Mistle Thrush, 2/3 Nuthatch, 2 each Green & Great Spotted Woodpecker. 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap. A plague of WW. No hirundines seen here but a crowd of Swallows were at Mytholmroyd.

I never did find that bleeding’ castle 😎

Bolton Abbey Bonus

Courtesy of DW. Cool breezy and generally grey.

6 Common Sandpiper, 3 Grey Wagtail, 1 Goosander f. 2 pr and a single Mandarin. 2 Oystercatcher.

                            

3 singing Redstart, 5/6 Blackap, Chiffchaffs & WW. Pr Nuthatch, 1 GSW. Loads of Tits, 1 Goldcrest.

Adult photo DW. Juv photos NK

A lifetime experience with a Woodcock that flew out from beneath a pathway wall and kept flying around us for a couple minutes. DW soon saw the reason why; a juvenile was sat motionless in the leaf litter! After a few photos we quickly moved off and on returning past the spot,as expected the pair had relocated to, hopefully a much safer spot.

Swillington Ings

Fresh NE’ly winds made for hard work but I eventually got some birds for the year list.

First off was a much welcome Black-tailed Godwit just within distance for a mediocre photo. Others: Common Tern, Sedge Warbler.

Pr Shelduck, several Pochard and Shoveler,  numerous Tufted Duck, few Gadwall. Pr Little Grebe,quite a few GC Grebe. 

I have two strong complaints. There were at least 11 Cettis Warblers singing extremely loudly. Why is this allowed? Some of us require peace and tranquillity. The other issue is the plague off Sand Martin that were flying around my head in such numbers, I feared I may suffocate 🤡.

Lapwings, 2 Redshank, 1 Oystercatcher. 2 Whitethroat, 3/4 Reed Bunting. Many WW and a few Chiffchaff plus numerous BHG and a good count of large Gulls.

Whiteholme Res

Hard work in a very fresh NE’ly. Pr Ringed Plover, a single Common Sandpiper. 3 Wheatear & a Swallow. A pr Raven flew low overhead. 6/7 Skylark & numerous Meadow Pipit. 1 pr Pied Wagtail.

Got some distant photos, hopefully these will be the worst I take for the next six months.

The Familiar Route

Put myself through the mill again (Oh you hero 🦸‍♀️) with not much to show for it. Soil Hill: Skylarks doing well but Linnets have thinned out. 3 singing Whitethroat. 4 WW, Curlews & Lapwings. 

Ogden Res: 1 each GC Grebe & drake Tufted Duck. Got my first local Swallow flying past the Lodge House. 2 LBBG, 1 GSW drumming and a Raven calling from somewhere upstairs. Yet again the place was riddled with singing WWs & supporting Chiffs in lesser numbers. 1 singing Blackcap. A couple Oystercatcher flew over a couple of times.

Green 🪵 pecker at Hunter Hill. A pr GC Grebe on Mixenden Res. 1 WW & 2 Chiffchaff in the trees.

Soil Hill Newbie

More hard work finding birds this am up that devil 👿 ish Hill. Conditions seemed good but the critters mainly kept their heads down. I’m sure the constant booming of shotguns near Denholme Weavers had no bearing whatsoever 👺.

One species bucked the trend; a Whitethroat sang it’s heart out from bushes in the bottom ditch. This bird being the second earliest I’ve recorded after an April 15th singer in 2020.

2 Curlew, 6 Lapwing, 1 each Grey Heron & Moorhen. Skylarks singing in good numbers, Meadow Pipits less so. Couple Blackbird, 1 Greenfinch, few Linnet & Goldfinch. A Sparrowhawk flew over Taylor Lane > E where a Pied Wagtail was heard.

Soil Hill To Mixenden

A gruelling walk that once again reinforced the fact I’m ageing and decrepit. However I did get the birds, certainly at two of the venues I visited. Kicked off on Soil Hill with a rocking male Ring Ouzel, pity this poor photo doesn’t do it justice.

A pr Grey Partridge, 1 Oystercatcher, Curlews & Lapwings. 2 WW, 7 Blackbird, Linnets, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits & 3 Pheasant. A Buzzard flew over the Ned Hill track and circled Ogden Res. The Wheatear gang reported yesterday have moved on. Also 4 Roe Deer.

Ogden Res and the golf course was gravid with Willow Warblers, I got 14 in all. There were also c9 Chiffchaff singing. The Oystercatcher pr were back on the overflow wall, seemingly without a care in the world. A Pr Tufted Duck, 1 Grey Heron & 2 adult LBBG.

I don’t want to talk about the stretch from Carrs Beck to Mixenden Res 🤢. 

Queensbury South

Nothing too superb on a pleasant stroll through the park and fields. 4 Chiffchaff were 🎤 singing in the park and I did more than half expect a WW. I was disappointed 😢. Usual common arboreal types seen and heard.

The fields weren’t exactly throbbing: 2 pr Lapwing, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Linnet, 3 Pied Wagtail, 4/5 Meadow Pipit & 1 singing Skylark. A couple of large gull sp. way up high over the village were the only ones seen. 

Contrast the above with the experience DP had this am on a long trek from Doe Park then over Thornton moor, winding up on Soil Hell. 3 WW & a Swallow at Doe Park. 1 Red Kite over the moor before clocking 10 Wheatear on the covered reservoir atop the hill 🤡👍.

Cold Edge To Mixenden

Light rain and mist in a very fresh SW’ly blow that wasn’t great for walking but it did provide good birds to start with at Cold Edge Dams. On the top road down to Mixenden it became milder but the birds ground to a halt with Skylarks being the exception.

The Dams: my first Wheatear for the year, a male. Couple Pied & 1 Grey Wagtail. 5 Stonechat in a tight bunch on a wire fence. 1 chipping Snipe, 3 Lapwing & plenty of Curlew. 

I got my first Red Grouse in approx 18 month perched conveniently on a trackside wall. A pr 🦪 Oystercatcher we’re close by in a manicured garden field. Also 1 Tufted Duck, 5 Canadas, couple Greenfinch & a few Meadow Pipit.

A long uneventful trek after this (1 Green 🪵 pecker on the deck) down to Mixenden Res which by now was millpond calm and devoid of water birds! 2 Chiffchaff in the woods.

Soil Hill Then Downhill

In Musical 🎵 Parlance this was a crescendo that rapidly lost 5/6 octaves into diminuendo 😢. Soil Hell was busy as I thought it would be given the fresh SE’ly blow.

SH: several Meadow Pipits and Skylark chortling tunes. Pr Red-legged Partridge, 3 Pheasant ditto 🦪 Oystercatcher. These were whizzing around the bottom cacaphonically 😂. After clocking a few Linnet back singing in the shrubbery, I hit the bonus birds:

5 Golden Plover were at a distance trying to keep their heads down but I walked to an angle that gave me a satisfactory  view. 3 males were in superb prime breeding plumage. Also a few Lapwing, couple of Curlew & a pr of Herring Gull.

Ogden Res: eeeewwww 😖. 3 LBBG, 2 Herring Gull, 1 GC Grebe. 5 Chiffchaff, couple Blackbird. The golf course was rank; couple Meadow Pipit similar Curlew. The will to live almost vanished at Mixenden. Nothing on the water just a quick passing gull sp. upstairs & a solitary Chiffchaff.

Elsewhere: 1 Barn Owl.

Swillington Ings

Bright and breezy with birds not coming eazy. 😎. The only visitors from overseas seen were 4/5 Swallow.

1 each Red Kite, Buzzard & Kestrel. Several Cettis warbler very vocal throughout but only 3/4 Reed Bunting. Numerous BHG squawking and preparing breeding sites.

5 Black-necked Grebe seen and unusually 6/7 Little Grebe matching the numbers of GC Grebe.

3 booming Bittern. A pr Golden Plover overhead, Lapwing spread thinly & 6/7 Redshank.

4 Goldeneye, ditto Shoveler, 2 Shelduck, numerous Tufted Duck, a fair few Pochard but Gadwall thinly spread. Both regular Goose sp. all over the joint.

NK, DP.

Ogden Wind Rain Mixenden

Ogden Res back to its former glorious status i.e rubbish. 1 LBBG & 2 Herring. 1 GC Grebe, 2 Chiffchaff. A couple Curlew overhead.

Carrs Beck and Stod Fold area produced a singing Linnet, 3 Meadow Pipit & a bunch of Curlew.

A pr Fieldfare at bottom Hunter Hill. Mixenden Res was gull-less. 1 Moorhen, 1, maybe 2 Grey Wagtail & 2 Chiffchaff.

Ogden To Mixenden

Despite the wintry conditions and slow start I got an acceptable bit of birding in. Ogden Res: the avians came in two by two in the main. 2 Herring Gull, LBBG, GC Grebe, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail (both males). Pr Bullfinch, 1 Grey Wagtail & 1 m Reed Bunting. 

A Linnet, couple Skylark, 3/4 Curlew ditto Meadow Pipit bottom Hunter Hill. 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Treecreeper in the Mixenden trees. Just a single Grey Wagtail ditto Moorhen & a distant large gull sp. upstairs being the only watery types.

Elsewhere 1 Barn Owl.

Soil Hill To Mixe…notworthamention

Sparse birding around the hill. Two Pied Wagtail ditto Meadow Pipit, a calling Curlew.

Ogden Res: couple more Curlew, 1 Lapwing. A Tawny Owl called just once. The water was bereft, one Grey Wagtail flitting around. A Grey Heron was prospecting. 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Mistle Thrush. Blackbirds & Chaffinches. A noisy Raven chased a Buzzard not too enthusiastically.

Today’s date is significant: 1 Swinhoes Petrel. I told my pals from yesteryear about this and was immediately contacted by that French swine 🕵️‍♀️ Pierre Merdemanger thus:

Alors Rosbif! Vous don’t fool me for une minute. I am aware of Avril Fool’s Day you Cochon Anglaise. Do you really expect me to believe vous saw une Buzzard being chased by le Raven?

Elsewhere: 1 Kestrel, pr Barn Owl.