Raggalds Soil Hill Then Aborted At Ogden

Raggalds Flood held a few BH & 4/5 Common Gulls. 3 Goldfinch flew over.

Soil Hell top had plenty of cold wind and a couple of Crows.

A couple or three Chaffinch in Ogden plantation overshadowed by 3 calling Curlew coming from the Foreside direction.

The Raven was noisy again at Ogden Water. Just a handful of small gulls present with a pair of Robin & a couple of Coal Tit.

Then disaster struck; the sole of my not so old Grition left boot 🥾 didn’t want to carry on walking and so decided to splay.

The kind ladies in the visor centre provided some string and an elastic band to bind the boot and while drinking a cawfee I had another great act of kindness bestowed upon me. A true gentleman insisted on giving me a lift back to Queensbury 👍.

They say you get what you pay for and I’m sure the people I pay to read this blog can understand that axiom 😅.

Ogden Water To Mixenden

In a NE'ly blow that didn’t help matters. Ogden: 1 female Goesunder and a calling Raven. A few gulls present including a couple of Herring. 1 Mistle Thrush ditto Coal Tit.

Mixenden Res held several BHG & a few Common Gull. A Green Woodpecker called twice. Plenty of dogs.

The Barn Owl rescued another moribund day, well almost 😏.

Tenerife No Stone Left Unturned

Last attempt at finding a new species brought a result ar the end of this morning’s slog 😊.  3 Turnstone were spread apart resting on large rocks outside of the harbour. They looked like they had completed an arduous journey over the madlantic 😁.

Despite my wrecked camera I managed a few acceptable photos which leads me to this warning:⚠️ 

My camera error code reads E:62:10. It means Image Stabilisation has malfunctions and sharp photos are history.

This is a common feature on all SONY cameras or camcorders and occurs usually after 3 years of use.

3 Little Egret, pr Berthelots Pipit. RRP. Pr Kestrel mating.

4 YLG, 1 Blackbird and a dark Warbler  that called loudly once. I’ll have to work on Sardinian and Western Olivaceous.

Canary Island Catchup

Marginally a better title than Torment In Tenerife?

Yesterday Wednesday was the absolute pits. Usual Serin Collared Doves & couple Blackbird. A long coastal trek produced 3 YLG and the 2 Little Egret. Perhaps a 3rd LE was in the area but I was on a downer with a faulty camera 😢.  

Did someone say So what’s the gripe when there’s nowt to photograph? 😭.

Today Thursday was perhaps 5% better 😏. I got a pr then a single Bertholot’s Pipit. The latter in a Tree which is apparently part of their behaviour. The pair were on the deck but I had to ditch 4 photos due to the a/m fault. 

A Barbary Partridge shrieked at me from just a few yards away.

Also 1 each WW & Kestrel & a couple YLG oh lets not forgot the Serin plague.

Bit Of A Nightmare Day

Confusion ruled today and some doubt set in about a couple of the Pipits I got yesterday 😒. A 3 second faint call could have been Grey or Yellow Wagtail as the bird was in flight and unseen this am. The walk was a real struggle with not much achieved. It was only with hindsight that some really musical Serin were identified as Atlantic Canary well, a lifer at least.

A couple WW, 1 Little Egret  2 Blackbird & 6 YLG. No Hirundines still nor Apodiidodiformes 🤓.

I now have to consider the possibility of mistaking Richard’s Pipit for Berthelot’s Pipit. It’s a bind being a second (third?) rate birder, believe me.

Mount Teide Grand Tour

A full day trip taking in both the verdant and barren lava strewn landscapes of Tenerife. Some spectacular views were enjoyed but the birding with one exception was dismal. So much so that I encourage any one who has better things to do to stop reading now or else!😅.

Exceptional first then. At three different coach steps I got a total of 7 Richard’s Pipit. Two pair and a trio, all in or around Car Parks. It seems as though they accept them as part of their favoured habitat.

A Buzzard 2 Kestrel 3/4 Blackbird, Serins. Several YLG and a very scarce bird here a Carrion Crow.

Ending on an upbeat note I discovered I got a lifer a few days back 😁. I wasn’t happy with some features of the RLP I recorded so on further scrutiny I discovered they were Barbary Partridge.

A Touch Of Queensbury In Tenerife

Talk about a reminder of home; a helluva wind coming in from the NE. Still it remained dry and sunny at 24C.

Amazingly I encountered another duo of Richard’s Pipit. Or maybe it was yesterday’s pair that have been blown down the coast a couple of miles. They were in a large car park and allowed a couple or three of fairly good photos. Haven’t I always stipulated you must have your camera ready at all times? 🤣. 

A Willow Warbler was seen picking up a feather from the deck before disappearing into a small bush. A Chiffchaff burst into brief song from a tree 🌴 close to the balcony I am lounging on 😋. 

Also the regular players encountered dodging the gales.

Lucky Crow Luckier Guy

 

Tenerife Migrants Trickle In

Got 3 LBJ Warblers this am one of which reeked of Chiffchaff. I’ll have to listen further to a loud bubbling warble heard later on but Melodious Warbler entered my head.

A pr Richard’s Pipit were feeding frantically about 2/3 yards away from my plates. Camera secure in rucksack. Had it been to hand I would not have got them that’s how my world works.

Pr Barbary Partridge - Lifer 😆 ditto Kestrel. Blackbirds Serins. YLGs 2

Little Egrets. RR Parakeets 🦜🦜

Slow Going North Tenerife

Went out Thursday for a long slog and only added a Kestrel to the short list of birds. There are Rock Doves here but I am positive they interbreed with the local feral pigeons.

Friday 16th February. Looks like I came too early for migrants especially Hirundines which I find difficult to Swallow (coughs). Not a single one seen nor heard after another long trek.

Now for a touch of self contradiction. I managed 2 separate Common Sandpiper which were in a real hurry.

Another Little Egret has turned up. 5/6 Rose-ringed Parakeet flying around screeching - no change there then.

3/4 Blackbird 5 YLG and a plague of Serin.

Puerto De La Cruz Tenerife

The mountainous landscape teeters down to the shoreline rich in evidence of  Volcanic activity probably dating back to the time when Little Richard stung em with Tutti Frutti (a lop bama luma a lop bam boom! 😅).

Jet black rocks and sand also fortunately a couple of Blackbirds. As expected it’s not exactly throwing birds down and I don’t anticipate getting a bucket 🪣 full in the coming days. However I was able to get very satisfactory photos of an almost confiding Whimbrel and a Little Egret that flew down and rooted itself to the same rock for some 80

Minutes.

I got extremely lucky when a small warbler flew into some branches about a yard above my bonce and despite it doing the jitterbug searching for insects I could plainly diagnose as Western Bonellis Warbler. 😜.

Collared Doves are widespread and I managed 3/4 small parties of singing Serin. Good to see 6/7 adult YLG.

No photos published until I return to the land of wind rain and cold.

Ogden Water and Mixenden

Very poor again at Ogden, the session highlighted by a Kingfsher perched by the Skirden channel. Several mixed gull species.

A Cormorant sporting a full white front was at Mixenden as were numerous gulls including a fair count of Herring.

The Barn Owl seen again for a short spell.

Mixenden Res Fowls Up

After another non descript saunter around Ogden Water I warmed up with a Buzzard & a Green Woodpecker at Hunter Hill bottom 😊. A solitary Barn Owl was seen in the distance.

I glumly climbed the fence at Mixenden Reservoir but knew within a couple of minutes something wasn’t quite right. There were 5 duck species that didn’t appear right for Dullard.

They were Wigeon! 4 males and a female 😋. As always they weren’t given to close up photography but I can live with that.

Numerous gulls were present; a few Herring and many Common. A Mistle Thrush sang in the woods.

Low Moor Dams

A cold dry day without wind 😃. Nothing in the fields down Brighouse Road en route however.

Harold Park Lake was busier than Park Dam with plenty of gulls including c12 Herring. 2 drake Goesunder, a pr Greylag & several Canada. A pr Tufted Duck

ditto Mute Swan plus the Coots & Moorhens. 4 Blackbird were only thrush sp. seen.

Park Dam: 12 Tufted Duck, a pr GC Grebe, couple Common Gull and a few BHG. small number Coots & Moorhens. Pr Blackbird.

Raptor News

 Peregrine falcon nest to be installed on Bradford chimney https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-68191571

Last Gasp Result At Mixenden

After another dire walk around Ogden I moved on to Mixenden Res which was busy with gulls but nothing else other than a Green Woodpecker.

Then as I left came salvation: about 10 Redpoll flew from a tree across the road and disappeared beyond the houses.

Down South To Horton Bank CP

Another poor one; Littlemoor Park was bereft. Nothing much in the fields until I hit a large flood field in Soaper Lane. 4 LBBG & numerous small gulls were present.

I was in a quandary at Horton Bank CP. Many Herring Gulls in all age ranges were present alongside a big headed adult gull with a darker mantle and a longer bill than its neighbours. YLG immediately sprang to mind but on looking at the photos it has large white primary wing blobs.

Also a pr of Goesunder. Many small gull species, the Mute Swan Coots and Moorhens.

The place is like a swamp.

PS The photos of the queried gull were unfit for publication.