Cold Edge To Mixenden

A real disappointment with minimal bird activity 😢. In reverse order nothing doing from the 🔝 road down to Mixenden desertvoir.

Cold Edge Dams 1 Goosander f ditto LBBG. A f Tufted Duck several BHG & a couple or three Common Gull.

1 Buzzard c30 Goldfinch & c20 Meadow Pipit.

Thanks to D&J Pinder I can shed some light on the Stolen Fish from a neighbouring garden reported on 13 September.

A Mink was seen scuttling around their back garden which is about 9 yards away from the fish pond. Mink are known to predate fish both large and small.

Soil Hill To Mixenden

Soil Hill: c45 Linnet 1 each Kestrel & Goldfinch. The above juv large Gull was a road kill victim just above Coal Lane.

A single Red Crossbill flew off from a conifer in Ogden Plantation calling thrice.

Ogden Water: 1 Cormorant 20 BHG 8 Swallow. 3 Jay around Carr’s Beck. 

Nothing at all on Mixenden Res which has a lot of shoreline.

Elsewhere a Barn Owl.

Minor Movement In The Meltdown

Hard to believe September nears its end in temperatures of 36/37C 🥵. But today and yesterday did bring slight signs of migration 👍.

Saturday 23/09/23 3 Grey Heron over flying low. 2 Crested Lark on the deck. More Jays noted. White Wagtail. An influx of Swallowtail Butterflies to compliment the African Queens.

Usual sp. as previously mentioned.

Sunday 24/09/23 final sweaty day. 1 each Black-eared Wheatear & Scrub Warbler 😂👍. Savi’s & Cettis Warbler. Squadrons of 🐝 Eater & both Swallow sp. RB Shrike x 2. 1 unid phyloscish warbler et al.

Stonkorarious Warbler Confirmed

Just a relatively short walk and a roasting this am due to lack of ambition and avian paucity 🤨. A Wagtail sp. heard briefly. Several Hooded Crow 1 Cormorant. The horde of Micky taking Coots & Little Grebes. A trio of Bulbul 1 Jay.

Ironically once again in the reeds nearest the hotel a bird chose to show itself very well for a couple of minutes.

No doubt this time, twas a Savi’s Warbler 😜👍.

2 Cettis Warbler were singing. I am sure there could be a E  W ssp. split here. W birds have a louder and deeper pitch to their song. These two were lighter pitched and a sweeter tone. I remember noticing this many years ago.

 🐝 Eaters in hotel grounds mid-day 😊

Rewarded Or Was I?

Wednesday 20/09/23 Most of the birds I saw today were in a mile or so radius of the hotel. I got some brief views of a warbler in the reeds and bushes and my instinct said Savi’s 😁 however having slept on it my conscience won’t let me record it as such 

A Cettis Warbler piped up briefly close by. 

I ruined my thighs by walking miles into the wilderness I have visited in aeons gone by. The only positive note to come out of this is that there was no development to blame on the total lack of avian action 😢 not even a House Sparrow present!

1 Little Egret ditto Kingfisher & RB Shrike. Spotted Flycatchers Goldfinches Bulbuls Turtle Dove & usual riffraff 🤣.

Day off today Thursday owing advanced years and screaming lower body muscles. I’ve said previously Druggies and Alcoholics get psychiatric help but not us birders 😭.

More Slogging In Sunshine

Monday 18/09/23 Headed toward an old haunt by the Manavgat River but had to abandon owing excessive heat and building development 😖 Was happy to get a Lesser Whitethroat 🤩. Bee-Eaters busy just above my lugholes.

Spotted Flycatcher Kingfisher RB Shrike Barn Swallow RR Swallow Goldfinch Jay Bulbul Turtle Dove & usual watery critters.

Tuesday 19/08/23 Yet another former haunt explored with again more developments to a slightly lesser degree. The best birds came within 10 minutes of each other including one I’ve not had here previously.

In a hotel manicured grounds were 2 Yellow Wagtail ssp. & a Whinchat on a bush next to a concrete path 😅. A Greater Flamingo was close by flying low over the shoreline 😛. 

Also Turtle Dove dodgy Rock Doves Spotted Flycatchers Swallows Bulbuls.

More Heat and Some Birds

Sat 16/09/23 Barn Swallow outnumbered by Red-rumped

Swallow. Stonechat Whinchat Spotted Flycatcher.

I donated blood to large flies that would give Jaws a rough time.

Bee-Eater distant views of Parakeets that didn’t ring true for Ring-necked so I’m looking at Monk. Usual gang Coot Little Grebe Bulbuls. 1 YLG.

Sun 17/09/23 Total dismay at Hotel development I hardly recognised parts of the area 😭.

1 stonkeronious River Warbler 😁 👍. Wait for it…

It’s been a ⛴️ boatload of years since I had this species

🤣.

Have to check out Bonellis Warbler. Sardinian Warbler RB Shrike RR Swallow Bee-Eater Spotted Flycatcher and the commoners.

Worth mentioning that gulls herons egrets are no longer seen near this hotel due to the tourism industry (yes I plead guilty) and greatly polluted waterways.

Baked In Turkey

I’ve had some poor starts to birding missions but this gets the Golden Orb😭. Ultra jet lag and screaming temperatures (38f) really done me head in. I wandered round like a jellyfish for ages until I found my bearings in an area that formerly produced jewels.

Several Little Grebe loads of Coot & 4/5 Cormorant. 1 YLG 3 Turtle Dove 😛. 3 Common Bulbul a few Hooded Crows.

I heard a calling bird in flight that would inspire some to say “He’s read Aesops Fables too many times”. ‘Twas a Tree Pipit 😁 Oh how the tears had to be supressed. Remember those you two blog readers?

An Opportunist Queensbury Thief

I went out back some 25 minutes ago and realised there was a familiar sound missing. It was the water pump in next door neighbours fish pond that had stopped working. So I had a gander at the pond and saw the inhabitants carp goldfish etc were absent. The protective netting was still intact so I wrongly presumed that the neighbour had sold his stock.

As it happened I bumped into said neighbour and he told me that a suspect Heron had gobbled the lot of them. The bird must have paid a few visits probably at dawn to have silently consumed them all. He mentioned a Grey Heron was knocking around the golf course just down the frog 🐸 n toad.

An Interesting Session Around Ogden

Expired Pygmy Shrew

This late morning walk turned up more variety than I dared hope for 😁. I kicked off on the E side and made a note of two duck on the W that looked decidedly undullardly.

When I reached them it turned out they were Shoveler 👍.

Here are a couple of really grim photos for you two who read this blog.

Prior to this viewing: 1 each Buzzard Chiffchaff Little Grebe & Nuthatch. 2 Cormorant & the Gull selection. A moth identified by DJS was a Silver Y.

A Tawny Owl called several times from trees at Hunter Hill where 4/5 House Martin & 6 Goldfinch were seen.

Elsewhere a Barn Owl.

Mixenden Res continues to be barren.

Cold Edge Dams To Ogden

A real non starter at the Dams - nothing doing until I hit the corner track above Haigh Cote where it was busy right up to the Withens. 

My hopes and aspirations were met with stonkeration 😁. 

A Whinchat perched on a wire fence is only my second of the year. A pr Snipe flew directly at me before nosediving into the reeds.

10 Linnet, c17 Goldfinch a few Meadow Pipit. A WW and a Blue Tit were having a bit of a tiff. A dozen House Martin &

c26 Swallow 1 Kestrel.

Ogden Water: a Little Grebe and a Tufted Duck. The latter didn’t hang around though. The Nuthatch from yesterday called briefly. 3 Cormorant and the gull crowd.

As expected the visitor wildfowl from yesterday have moved

away.

Ogden Water and Golf Course

The algae has rocketed across the water fourfold. I got 4 duckies that needed a check; turned out they were Wigeon 😁.

Some time later I got another two and silly me assumed they were of that ilk. 😒 I should have made more effort looking through the bushes.  BS later clocked them as 2 Teal.

4 Cormorant ditto Common Gull & the other usual crew.

1 noisy Nuthatch 5 Coal Tit and others.

The golf course coughed up a  Chiffchaff & Stonechat.

Good to have a chat with Mr & Mrs DJS.

Cold Edge Dams Walk

Taking in Ogden Water and a vast array of bugger all doing

😒.

Cold Edge: 6 Lapwing & a Grey Heron on Leadbeater. 2 Pied Wagtail & Canadas at Haigh Cote.

8 Stonechat throughout along with c30 Swallow. I’m a Sun fan so can’t complain about heat haze masking the true identity of 3/4 distant finchy types.

Ogden: 3 each Cormorant & Grey Heron. Numerous Gulls still present but only 1 Herring. The woods may as well not exist, same applies to beyond the golf course etc.

Noisy drumming GSW at Mix…(sorry I can’t bring myself to utter it). Elsewhere birds still showing.

Both Ogden & Skirden Cloughs are contaminated by toxic algae.

Swillington Theatre

 Leeds nature reserve to host climate change 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66707483

Soil Hill and Ogden Water

Fairly poor birding although I enjoyed the 🌞 shine.

Soil Hill was across the tops only as the ruts and ditches are overgrown and pose a danger. I tripped a few weeks back and am thankful to still own working ankles.

9 Goldfinch 2 Green Woodpecker 1 Swallow 2/3 large gulls overhead.

Ogden Water was busy with Gulls, about 80 of them. The majority were BHG with around 20 LBB & a Herring. 3 Cormorant still present.

Nothing at all at Carr’s Beck and Hunter Hill there appears to have been a big clear out.

Elsewhere 2 Barn Owl.

Cold Edge Dams Slog

Kicked off very satisfactorily then nose dived as I hit the top road and went down Hunter Hill.

Cold Edge Dams - the smallest of the 3 held a Little Grebe and on the nearby fencing surrounded by trees, a Spotted Flycatcher was hard at work doing what they do best.

5 Stonechat c40 Swallow 1 Meadow Pipit ditto Lapwing. Got a short weak  Phyllosc call suggesting Chiffchaff. 6/7 Goldfinch 8 House Sparrow.

Hunter Hill - 1 Skylark c50 Linnet.

A single Ring-necked Parakeet was screeching loudly from a garden tree near Mixenden Res.

Elsewhere a Barn Owl.

Reckon I saw at least 6 Wall Browns 2 small Tortoiseshell 1 Peacock & 3 Speckled Wood butterfly.

Usual Hum Drum Route

Not much improvement on the Ogden birding front. 2 Cormorant ditto Common Gull. Handful of LBB & a Herring plus a few BHG.

I watched a Crow for about 10 minutes as it had an object stuck on its mandible. Eventually it dislodged whatever it was and carried on regardless 😀.

2 WW, 5 Blackbird 3/4 Robin. A Buzzard flew over Carr’s Beck > SW. 4 Swallow & 2 Pheasant there also.

Journeys end produced only a GSW.