Ogden Water Grounhog Day

Tedium has really established itself now. Usual Gull numbers roughly but Cormorant now up to 4 individuals. A couple of weak Phyllosc calls heard.

A Green Woodpecker on the deck over the Carr’s Beck fence with 7 Swallow upstairs. 

Other: Fox Moth Caterpillar (no I didn’t eat it) 2 Wall Browns.

The only positive thing to mention about that unmentionable reservoir is that Speckled Woods were in fine fettle.

Queensbury Shelf Moor Horton Bank

A necessary change of scenery although there wasn’t much doing particularly at Horton Bank Country Park.

Brighouse Road fields: 1 Rook, 16 BHG & few Jackdaws.

Shelf Moor: 1 Swallow, couple Goldfinch. Finally I reacquainted myself with the hiding Little 🦉 Owl. Also a Herring Gull & 5 BHG

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Horton Bank: 1 LBBG & 5 BHG. Pr Mute Swan, Coots, Moorhens in double figures. Swimming Dog screeching kids.

Soil Hill Ogden Water Route

Another hard slog just slightly more rewarding than two days back which I saw no point in posting ☹️.

3 Grey Partridge were on the top of Soil Hell - been a while since I’ve seen this sp. Also 2 Goldfinch & a Meadow Pipit - riveting eh? 2 Wall Brown butterfly & a Small Copper.

Ogden Water nearly brought 😭 to my eyes - nothing new at all. 1 Herring & 11 LBB 16 BH Gulls. People watchers take note c75 pounding the circuit.

Carr’s Beck brought some light relief 🙂. 2 WW 10 Swallows and up the slope beyond the fence c70 Linnet.

I can’t bring myself to mention that final destination from which a GSW called just the once.

Absolute Rock Bottom

Cold Edge Dams was worse than the previous visit! A Reed Bunting heard 4 Swallow 2 LBBG & 9/10 BHG.

Ogden Water: 2 Cormorant 12/13 LBBG & the BHG. 

A slight lifting of the spirits here I saw a m Blackap so I tec’d a few times and got responses.

12/13 Goldfinch & 5 Linnet at Stod Fold along with a party of Swallows.

No need to mention the unmentionable stretch of water at journeys end.

Cold Edge Ogden Water Rubbishden

The SW'ly did the number and then some 😩. Worst visit to Cold Edge ever; 3 Goldfinch, 2 House Martin, 5 Swallow, 6 Meadow Pipit ditto Canada.

Ogden was very similar to my previous visit with the addition of an adult Herring Gull minus Buzzard.

A much welcome Dipper at Hebble Brook was my first in probably 3 months 👍.

3/4 Swallow at Hunter Hill bottom. The only thing interesting at Miseryden 😢 were more Speckled Woods.

Ogden Water To Mixenden

In reverse order: Mixenden was gash thanks to the presence of vile organisms. Quad Bikers, about 6 of the scuzzers.

Ogden had been quiet. 9 LBBG, 5BHG & 2 Cormorant. A male Blackbird was carrying a beakfull of grub. Buzzard calls heard a few times suggesting possibly 2 birds.

Stod Fold coughed up c12 Swallow and I suppose my first taste of visible migration in the form of c27 Linnet 👍.

I did OK for butterflies. First Wall Brown of the year. 2 Peacocks, couple Green-veined Whites & 6 Speckled Woods

Foggy Ogden Water

Visibility problems this morning ☹️. 1 Jay 1 calling Phyllosc I couldn’t pin down.

5 LBBG c16 BHG 3 Cormorant.

I left due to increasing fog. Surprisingly c20 Swallow came in and circled for 5 minutes, 2/3 settling on wires.

In a couple of fields by Blind Lane were c13 Common Gull 😋. It looks as though the Ogden gulls had moved down too as numbers were identical.

Denholme Clough Doe Park Soil Hell

Somebody has done a number on me again! How come the distance from Queensbury to Doe Park has increased by a couple of mile not to mention Soil Hell gradient increasing by  15% 🥺.

Sure was hard work nailing birds too but Denholme Clough finally produced the goods at the end of the return leg. A pr Spotted Flycatcher flying and flitting between bushes and tree tops 😍.

A Buzzard showed on 3 occasions and a Kestrel flew over. The reservoir was poor, just 32 Canadas on it. 2 LBBG upstairs.

3 WW, 2 Swallow ditto Jay. 1 Bullfinch ditto Green Woodpecker and the expected tits etc in very low numbers.

Soil Hill was appalling. 3 Skylark & 6 Goldfinch down by The Shay with a bunch of BHG in an adjacent field. Not a single bird up at the top but judging by the myriad vehicle’s zooming to and fro Ned Hill Road has its own version of the Indy 500 🚛.

The Scuzzers Brothers paid a visit 😡

Usual Route In The Rain

Nothing remarkable on Ogden Water. 4 Cormorant were busy fishing and only a couple of Gulls until departure time when several dropped in. 5/6 LBBG, 2 Common and the BHG majority.

Arboreal types: 1 Nuthatch 2 Jay & small nr. Common residents.

Several Swallows at Stod Fold. Nothing on Mixenden (ain’t that unusual). All was not lost however; plenty of dogs about 🤡.

Despair Thence Delight At Ogden

I had to start at Mixenden Res this (late) morning. It was rank, just a Kestrel flying over. 

The Carr’s Beck fence took some going over and I only got two fleeting glimpses of Redstarts.

Nothing to report other than a Jay until I was past the point where the W shore reaches its apex and the E shore starts. 1 each Cormorant & f Tufted Duck. 

17 Large Gulls including 2 Herring. The majority of the others were juveniles.

I was desperate at Ducky Corner and combed through the dullards when I espied an exaggerated bill shape both in length and breadth. I took a lot of below par photos but they did confirm a Shoveler 😁.

Another duck caught my eye and this was a female/eclipsed plumage male Wigeon 😛. Shame on me for deleting the photo in error 😢.

Cold Edge Dams Rapturous Raptor

A great start to a busy session 😁. PS and meself arrived at Leadbeater Dam to see a small raptor flying fast across the water. We deduced it was a Merlin a falcon I haven’t seen in a long time. 

About some 20 minutes later I had clearer views of an adult female Merlin perched on a wall near the top of Haigh Cote dam. As Pete stated this raised the question of a possible second bird?

Also: 1 Little Grebe ditto WW & Reed Bunting. The track was buzzing with 7/8 Stonechat 3 Wheatear 5/6 Pied Wagtail & a 3/4 Goldfinch. Two Kestrel seen on Cold Edge Road.

Ogden Water was eye wateringly boring and well noisy with visitors. I did get a soaring Buzzard though.

A pair of Redstart graced the Carr’s Beck fence again with a male Wheatear nearby.

Cold Edge Then Ogden To Mixenden

A tale of depression 😵‍💫 fortunately terminating in elation at the sessions finale 😁

Cold Edge dams were stricken by a malicious WNW wind that almost reduced me to tears as birdlife was minimal.

2 Stonechat 1 Reed Bunting 5 Linnet 2 WW 6 Swallow & a Meadow Pipit. The Canadas & 6/7 BHG.

The almost birdless grind continued down to Ogden Water.

1 each Cormorant & Herring Gull. 6 LBBG 2 Common & c21 BHG. 3 House Martin over the water along with several Swallow further afield.

I summoned up the energy to visit Carr’s Beck and subsequently Mixenden Reservoir 🤔. At last a positive move!

A male Redstart was energetically whizzing around the fence and I also thought a second bird was present. DP came along and trekked further up the slope. He was able to confirm a second bird 👍. A noisy calling WW was nearby.

I trudged over to Mixenden Reservoir not caring to view the emptiness but I relented on seeing a black shape slap bang in the middle. Twas a drake Common Scoter! 🤪👅.

Finally A Long Awaited Goody

Ogden Water was quiet again with just 7 LBBG & 5 Cormorant. By the time I completed the circuit the latter had departed 🤨.

A walk across the rough ground below the golf course produced only my third Sparrowhawk of the year 😋. A Linnet & a Skylark were also here.

At Carrs Beck I caught a glimpse of a bird flitting about the sloping ground fence in among the hedge. As half expected it was a Redstart 😄👍. The bird was a fast mover so I only got enough plumage detail to consider female or possible juvenile. A Swallow also seen skimming past me.

Elsewhere two Barn Owl.

Horton Bank CP Doldrums

The good thing about this visit is that I only scheduled 30/35 minutes; it was chronic.

A pair LBBG were the only visitors to the brimful lake. Otherwise it was down to the usual residentzzzzzzz.

I did hear a Jay shouting.

Ogden Area

Ogden Water was painfully slow to start with but it did improve 😊. 

3 female Goosander fished near to the W shoreline. A f Tufted Duck also present here. The 2 Cormorant still hard at it in the middle.

A Curlew circled above the N end, calling several times. A Herring Gull ditto BHG & 3 LBBG dropped in.

A Nuthatch piped up for a short while.

Carrs Beck produced a RLP a WW & a couple of Pheasant.

I’m not going to mention Mixe… oops I almost did 🤓.

Elsewhere 3 Barn Owl.

This Calf ensured I got a really wet 🖐️