Cold Edge Dams

A slow start but it turned out alright at the finish 😁. 3/4 Curlew and a sitting Lapwing. 3 Swift, 6 Swallow, 1 Greenfinch.

Haigh Cote Dam was barren. Leadbeater had a Cormorant and Canadas on it and nearby a Grasshopper Warbler reeled for the duration. This is quite acceptable as it’s my first of the year 👍.

2 Reed Bunting, 4 Linnet and 4 Stonechat juveniles. 3 Blackbird & several Meadow Pipit.

This female Ghost Moth was waiting for me on my arrival home. Thanks to Messrs AC and DJS for providing identification.

Good Birds On The Usual Route

It was raining when I departed the hovel but with hindsight I realise the singing Chiffchaff across the road was a good omen 😃. Two more were 🎤 on arrival at Ogden along with a very loud WW & a Blackcap.

The water held c30 LBB, 2 Herring, 4 BH Gulls and a GC Grebe.

An Oystercatcher flew over the golf course. A Grey Wagtail family of 4 were at Hebble Brook along with 3 Goldfinch and a Blackbird. 

Around the corner up Carrs Beck was a Whitethroat and a young Roe Deer🦌 staring at me. 5 Stonechat, 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Swift & a few Swallow.

A House Martin and several Swallow were at Hunter Hill

bottom with 4/5 more Martins flying over Mixenden Res. On the drink were 7/8 LBB Gulls. A Chiffchaff was singing in the wood.

Can Picafort to Son Real

My last trek so I opted for the beach, dunes and scrub. YLG seem to have departed since the two I got on the first couple of days. I made the effort but could only turn up 15 Audouins Gull.

Once again it was very hard work but at the end I got a couple of newbies. A fleeting glimpse of a Buzzard may have been a Honey but won’t be recorded as such. A Hoopoe was calling from a distance - this place used to crawl with ‘em.

Spotted Flycatcher has been good to me; another 4 clocked today. 1 Crested Lark, 2 Serin, 3 Stonechat, 1 Linnet and a juvenile Bunting I’m having to work on. Several Cormorant.

Green Sandpiper Saves It

Another slog around the nearest 8th of the reserve that used to be 🥱. 4 Spotted Flycatchers incl one that allowed camera intrusion.

Same old crap as yesterday but just 3 Marsh Harrier. c13 Cattle Egret - sod it I can’t go on 🥺. Anyway the spirits were lifted for a little while when I saw a Green Sandpiper lift off and slowly glide away.

Pr Yellow Wagtail a bit far off. 1 Kestrel and a loud noisy git

that didn’t show.

Roll on Ogden and Mixenden - er, wait a mo while I reconsider that 🤓.

Wildfowl and Marsh Harriers

I rediscovered a track from yesteryear so wandered up it ever hopeful. Praise be to the local Water Company, not only were there 3 dams near the office and works but a kick arse sign pointing to where 🔭 birds could be viewed!

The BW Stilts let me know I was an intruder in their eyes but the wildfowl carried on with their day.

Possibly more than a hundred Shelduck, mostly recently fledged to grown young and adults. Similarly Pochard less so Red-crested Pochard. Around 10 Little Grebe, 8 Cattle 🐄 Egret.

4 Marsh Harrier were hunting and getting mobbed. 3/4 Common Tern, 5/6 BH Gulls. 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Serin. Goldfinches, Greenfinches, 3/4 Cettis.

Oystercatcher In London? Cor Blimey

 https://apple.news/Aj_WSwdwiSWOg0iyUaU55sg

A Rather Decent Pipit

A bit sticky today as was the weather 😂. I headed SE along the dunes and rocky coast to the Necropolis de Son Real. I was fortunate enough to encounter a species I had totally forgotten about; a Tawny Pipit. It performed very well not only calling in flight but perching atop a bush so my lust for camera action could be sated 🤪. 

6 Stonechat, c11 Linnet. Couple what the hell were they?. 7/8 Cormorant (too far but must be Sinensis). 2 Kentish Plover, 1 each Common Tern, Lil Egret and Audacious Gull 🤡.

Audouin’s Gull Puts The Bite On

A real slooow morning meandering near the beach in a slightly less fierce sun, until the breeze packed in around noon.

4 Audouin’s Gull were flying around the streets at one time, I was hoping they would leave a souvenir on my sun hat. I have definitely contracted Audouinitis Vulgaris.

Symptoms include Speaking Nepalese with a strong Burnley accent. 👁 balls swivelled to the centre pointing magnetic north. Lower earlobes curled up backwards and extreme salivating ☔️. At one stage I considered a marriage proposal but hell surely that ain’t right.

One had the decency to allow reams of photographs. I thought it was panting 😮‍💨 out of mutual respect until I realised it was sun afflicted just like me 🌞.

Also Little Egret, Common Coots, Spotted Flycatcher posing suitably. Spectacled Warbler that hid and a Zitbag that tried to hide.

Another Bout Of Braised Birding

35C again today and this just has to stop before vital organs do. I must state out of fair play that the reserve does not charge an entrance fee before my latest moan, which is:

5 years ago one could enter and exit the Alcudia end by a gate which is now locked up 🤬. Luckily I can still climb 🧗‍♀️ twist and turn in order to save an extra couple of mile.

Best Bird has got to be a pr GC Grebe 🤓. I even managed two Blackbird but the much vaunted Dunnock let me down 😢.

Otherwise it was 🏃‍♂️ of the mill stuff with nothing exciting on show. 4 Kentish & c10 LR Plover. Usual BW Stilts, Avocets Glossy Ibis (yawn) & Egrets. Another Marsh Harrier. The Great Reed Warbler still going berserk and despite the distance I’m leaning more in the direction of singing Savi’s Warbler regarding the two reedy inhabitants mentioned previously 🤪.

I wonder is it an ego issue to publish one’s mistake? On the 15th I reported a Marbled Teal (having had them here). Well the  blighta showed well today and looked remarkably like f  Red-crested Pochard 🥸.

I had a stroke of luck, one of the Red-knobbed Coot pair was feeding at close range. More may follow…

Don’t Read This Unless You Like Depression

I went in the opposite direction to that place this morning. It was only 33C so instead of crawling on all fours I walked like a biped 😃.

I know now that Auduions and YL Gulls are best watched from my hotel balcony as the fly up the street. Only thing on the beach was a Little Egret.

I encountered a few Coot and Muscovy Duck before giving up and finding yet another access route has now been blocked. A pr Crested Lark and a juv Stonechat kept me happy for all of 5 minutes.

Now for all you 🐕 💩 connoisseurs and I do know you’re out there! On the outskirts of this clean resort, reality raised its inevitable head. Dog shit in abundance! Most of it still brown, some going grey but Yes White Dogshit at arms length. Such are the memories I am overcome with emotion 🥹. 

If ever there was a time to quit blogging surely the moment has arrived.

A Birding Route March in 35C

 I’ve long known I’m not right in t’head and today proved it. Although I prepared better for this trek around the deteriorating Albufera, it was still a tough ask in the surface of the sun temperatures. Why deteriorating? Well it’s like the wardens here have been trained by those tossers at the Royal Society For The Prevention of Birdwatching.

Example? 30 percent less access than was available 6 years ago. Hedges and Reeds so tall you can’t see a thing hello Swillington! Something nature has inflicted on the area: lack of rainwater. In parts the water is dirty brown or not there at all.

Glossy Ibis are through the roof here. Shrinking species are Red Knobbed Coot and Purple Swamphen. 1 & 2 respectively. 1 Marsh Harrier dittto Night Heron and noisy Great Reed Warbler. Sardinian Warblers, Zitbags everywhere. Auduions Gull, YLG. Spectacled Warblers and a probable wooden reeling call of Savis.

Sod it forget the remainder it’s Beer O’Clock 🤠

Birds Aplenty Despite Dante’s Inferno

Gadzooks lad, it were reet hot so much so I was on the verge of dehydration. Mind thee squire after necking a pint of H2O I slung a couple o jars o 🍺 down in celebration.

Spotted Flycatcher greeting me on arrival at the Albufera reserve. Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, LRPs, Kentish Plovers, a drop in Green Sandpiper. 

Marbled Teal, Shelducks. Glossy Ibis all o’er shop their numbers increasing  dramatically. 

Raptors:  Res Kite Marsh Harrier m&f, Kestrel. Amidst a thousand Zits one Cisticola had the effeontery to pose for a quick sniping shot Oops something wrong, this post is well unfinished but even the opening drivel failed to make the gutter…thanks JL for the heads up…

Peregrine Rescue

https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/people/halifax-library-staff-rescue-rare-peregrine-falcon-chick-3728775

Shelf Moor and Horton Bank CP

The Doldrums are well and truly upon us on this early November - oh! begging your pardon mid June day. 😏

Couple Swallow, Skylark & LBBG at Shelf Moor.

Horton Bank country park was the quietist I’ve known it to be. Among the residents were a drake Tufted Duck, 1 BHG & a couple LBBG overhead.

On the positive side, the Reed Warbler is still 🎶 singing heartily. A Chiffchaff was the only other visitor that piped up for a short while.

Time to reflect on taking time out and considering another pastime, catch the Javelin perhaps?

A Canny Pigeon

 https://apple.news/AjkrQ46CFQheMrlFTHD7OlQ

Soil Hill to Mixenden

Plenty of wind around today wish I could say the same about birds. Soil Hill was passage only, the slog alleviated by a pr Greenfinch at Perspiration Rd and another on the Ned Hill track. 

Ogden had the GC Grebe pair seemingly going through a partial mating ritual. Just 1 each Herring & LBB gull. A Grey Wagtail was very noisy in an area that could support breeding. The woodland singing has died down further just singles Blackcap, Chiffchaff & WW. Also present: singles Goldcrest, 🌰 Hatch & 🌳 Creeper.

Carrs Beck produced a duo of male Pheasants engaged in a punch up. A singing Whitethroat also. A few Swallow in the general area and Linnets. Once more Mixenden was awful apart from 3/4 Swift turning up as I left.

Horton Bank Country Park

Warm and sunny for the short visit and quiet overall, however there was one interesting episode. I could hear a chuntering Acrocephaline warbler at the far end of the lake. I wrongly presumed a Sedge but two local stalwarts said it was a Reed. Sure enough on closer approach and a bit of Xeno Canto for assistance, I had to agree it was indeed a Reed Warbler. As is usually the norm despite the racket the bird stayed invisible.

A pair of Tufted Duck was the best the lake could offer. As I was leaving a single LBBG circled and moved on. Also a single Mute Swan, 1 each Blackcap & Chiffchaff singing.

Ogden Again and that other place.

Starting with that other place; a total washout 😡.

Ogden was OK with just enough activity to prevent tears flowing. Tried turning a distant adult Herring into YLG until I saw the primary wing pattern and admitted defeat. The BHG was the only other gull present.

A Redshank posed acceptably for a few minutes before flying off. The GC Grebe and Tufted Duck pr were still active as was the prowling Grey Heron.

The Redstart was heard twice, it has now moved up beyond the Ogden Clough bridge. A Blue Tit was seen entering a hole in a tree 🌳 carrying grub.

 

Also: pr Mistle Thrush, noisy Raven, 1 GSW ditto Swallow. A leucistic Crow flew over showing nearly all white. The migrants were singing in slightly higher numbers than the previous couple of visits.

Ogden Res and Mixenden

Winter temperatures and wind still here with us in meteorological summer. The Grey Heron was at work on the shores of Ogden and the pr of GC Grebe are back along with the pr Tufted Duck. Gulls down to 1 BHG & 2 LBBG.

I went to check on the Redstart and it’s still there, if anything singing louder than ever within an even greater range. Also 1 Reed Bunting and the usual migrant choir.

Got my first Sparrowhawk in quite some time and 3/4 Swallow at Hunter Hill bottom. Why hasn’t Mixenden Res been condemned as unfit for birdwatching?

Ogden Res to Mixenden

Ogden was awful. I went up by the 🦷 Tooth hoping to hear if not see Tree Pipit and Spotted Flycatcher. I came away with Chaffinch and 2 Blackbird 😖.

1 each Tawny Owl 🦉 & Buzzard heard and a Raven seen. 11 large gulls on the water incl 2 Herring. The arboreal bird songs are decreasing now.

Mixenden was chronic: nothing to report at all.

I must end on a laugh. if not a 🤣 guffaw. Bradford, City of Culture? I wonder how much money was seen to change hands 🙌 (probably hundreds of thousands) Cynical? Me? Nooooo!