Bolton Abbey Photos

 The top five photos are by NK

The bottom three by DW

Bolton Abbey

Courtesy of DW on a cool mainly grey morning which remained dry.

2 Pied Flycatcher, 3 singing Blackcap, singing WWs galore & a few Chiffchaff 😋.

3 Red Kite & a Buzzard. 👍. 6/7 Common Sandpiper, pr Oystercatcher. Distant calling from Curlews.

A fair few Sand Martin & Swallows. 1 Dipper, 2 Grey & a Pied Wagtail. 4 Goosander, 1 Grey Heron.

1 each Green & Great Spotted Woodpecker. 1 Nuthatch in with several Chaffinch Great & Blue Tits.

A good session - thanks Dave. A few photos to follow…

Queensbury South Shelf Moor

Had to go for a vaccination so I took the binoculars.

Looks like the person who produced this could do with some new optics.

Got a single Swallow at the top of Bridge Lane. 

A single Skylark, pr Canada, 4 Blackbird, pr Collared Dove, 1 Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeons.

Good to see Winter hasn’t deserted us ☹️

Horton Bank CP

Only had time for a short session this morning. 2 pr Goosander, 1 Reed Bunting ditto Chiffchaff WW. A nesting Coot & pr Mute Swan.

A dog and his nugget who laughed as he told me his dog likes to spook the birds. Shame I’m not allowed to carry a kukri - lucky you, nugget.

A lot of large gulls mainly Herrings in all age groups but an adult LBBG here and there. A single Grey Heron, 3 Blackbird & several Woodpigeon.

Cold Edge Dams To Mixenden

A dry cold session wirh a N'ly blow 💨. Despite a blank 30 minutes from the Withens down to Mixenden both the start and end provided some decent sightings 😊.

Cold Edge Dams: my first brief distant view of a Wheatear for the year. 4 Tufted Duck, pr Little Grebe, few Curlews.

1 mebbe 2 Redshank. Canadas, few Goldfinch & a Greenfinch. 1 Oystercatcher.

Mixenden Res: nothing on the water. An Oystercatcher calling in flight. A Buzzard soaring low overhead. 1 Jay ditto WW.

Soil Hill To Mixenden Res

A moggy and fisty morning in the main clearing up somewhat around mid day. Had a gander at Raggalds Flood which was clear of birds. Two adult LBBG on the nearby sports field.

Soil Hill: 1 WW 3 Meadow Pipit many Woodpigeon. Curlews heard 4 Goldfinch couple Pheasant.

Ogden Water: pr Tufted Duck ditto Canadas. A pr LBBG were probably the birds seen earlier. c13 WW 2 Chiffchaff. A male Stonechat was at Hebble Brook. More calling Curlew at Hunter Hill where the regular Green Woodpecker was calling again.

A pr RLP near the entrance to Mixenden Res which was barren until the last couple of minutes when a Common Sandpiper flew from the W shore across the water.

Others: singing Song Thrush Blackbirds and a Barn Owl.

Bad Move

 

This Boat Stank. The trip was Crap 💩 and his Wife was a Cow 🐮

Heirapolis Pamukkale

A long rip off coach trip to a historical gem rapidly getting eroded by modern traits of tourism - capitalism at its finest 🥸.

2 Magpie! 2 Little Owl 🦉😋. Scores of Crested Lark and hundreds of hirundines. A few Serin and Goldfinch. A drumming woodpecker sounded GSW ish but I’ll have to check out its 3/4 congeners 😏.

I trespassed on a Pied Wheatears territory and the male give me some reet earache and a fine display of a war dance. 5 Pieds in total ticked. A pr and probably a distant male Black-eared Wheatear also encountered 😜.

Two isolated sightings of Buzzard hovering and flying over the motorways.

Oh how delicious - from the coach about 30 minutes away from return to hotel a White Stork😋🤣.

An Alpine Avalanche

All taken into consideration another poor session this morning 😪. Usual hirundines e.g House Martins. Swallows & Red Rumped dittos flying around then dropping down into Muddy Waters (there’s a blues song in the making here) for nesting foundations.

I decided to go round the mountainous section of coastline and all hell let loose. The air was thick with Alpine Swift so many whizzing about it was impossible to get close to an accurate count. Taking into consideration repeated same bird sightings I’m gonna say over a hundred as a conservative guess.

A Raven a Blackbird 🐦‍⬛ a Chaffinch and a couple of unid types subwarbling and grunting. Oh how could I forget the YLGs House Sparrows and Great Tit. I ain’t even gonna mention Colla…oops nearly did😑.

Turkey Trot Trip Update

I’ll try match the paucity of birds with a minimum of words (yeah right).

Never known it as bad, I visited areas that used to be filthy with feathery friends but now it’s all over.

On Wednesday I roamed locally and got the same species as Tuesday 9th with a psychological lifeline thrown in. About 5 Common Swift shot past accompanied by a pr Alpine Swift 😍. They were gone in a minute.

Today I went to the massive lake at Dalyan - Ogden times 1873 on a poor day. It was grim but with a life saver in the final hour.

The same hirundines  as previous days. 2 Little Egret and a few Hooded Crows. One brief large winged raptor at distance. 1 each White Wagtail & Crested Lark. 7 Pygmy Cormorant 2 Cettis Warbler.

Then again at last gasp I got the jackpot. 4 luverly adorable 🥰 Spur-Winged Lapwing on the edge of a rough pasture field bordering the lake 😁.

Day One In The Sun

What’s That I hear you retort! No I am not in Calderdale but getting the birds isn’t any easier at the moment 😬.

Hooded Crows, a Jay a classicly darker bird than the ones in UK. Several YLG.

Several Red Rumpo Swallows 😅 ditto Barn Swallows & House Martins. The latter two species gathering mud.

I did espy a pr of pale Swift briefly at distance but won’t report as Pallid.

Blackbird Great Tits White Wagtail and those damned Collared Doves along with a squadron of House Sparrows.

Will have book a couple of trips into the hinterland of wherever I may be.

Poor Session On Soil Hell

Took a chance on the hill as it was a dry morning - ish.

Started off OK with several Goldfinch at bottom Persperation Rd. Ah before I forget a Lapwing was flying around Raggalds Flood.

At the top of the road a flock of around 23 Fieldfare took off from the first right hand field. A welcome sight and my first of the year. They were in with a bigger bunch of Starling.

Then it all went downhill as did my footfall. 

Distant Curlew calls. Small numbers of Meadow Pipit a Pheasant 😏.

DB was there and we had a chat. He too was struggling with a poor species count.

A large flock of Woodpigeon were down Taylor Lane.

Time to seriously consider taking up smuggling and drop this obsessive pastime.

Cold Edge Dams To Mixenden

Cold Edge Dams: nothing on Leadbeater. Pr Tufted Duck & a few Canadas on Haigh Cote.

7 Greylag and c35 Canada in the fields along with 3 Lapwing & pr Redshank.

8 Curlew 2 Skylark 3 Pied Wagtail 4 Meadow Pipit 1 Kestrel. A pr Oystercatcher seemed settled in the Nolstar field. A pr Grey Partridge were further down Hunter Hill as was the Green Woodpecker.

Nothing on Mixenden Res. In the trees were 1 each Chiffchaff Coal Tit & Song Thrush.

The Barn Owl pr showed in the mystical elsewhere location.