More Balearic Bird Boredom

By jove I’m fed up of this monotonous grind even though I did get House Sparrow in fair numbers today. Also appropriately a Sparrowhawk 👍.

3 Corn 🌽 Bunting, 1 each Spotted & Pied Flycatcher.  Pr Stonechat. 1Kentish Plover, 4 Shag. Finally managed to see a Hooded Crow 😊. 1 singing Blackcap.

Good numbers of Blackbirds here. The ones in the hotel gardens are accustomed to Homo Sapiens. They feed about 2 yards of your feet sometimes closer. Quite amusing to see them hopping around outside the restaurant window. Could be they have been thrown food to them over the passage of nutritional time.

Can’t wait to get back to quality birding back home.

Not For Keep It Local People

S'Albufera today. Place definitely going down the tubes. No Dunnock, Magpie nor Carrion Crow. I haven’t had Chaffinch yet; Greenfinch appears to rule the roost here.

Greater Flamingo right leg ring WCJN reported to visitor centre. Hope they don’t punish it too much 😅.

3 Red-crested Pochard. 1 Red-Knobbed Coot.

5 Purple Heron. 1 Squacco Heron. 2 Night Heron in among c60 Cattle Egret nesting in the trees.

Nesting Avocets didn’t like the prescence of Kentish Plover and regularly drove them away from their territory.

More to follow if I can be bothered…

A Long Slog In The Bog

Poetic License there in the title; twas actually on the fringes of the Albufera. Got some reasonable avians despite having my eardrums assaulted when a Nightingale and a Cettis Warbler burst into song about two yards away from each other. About 8 of the former encountered and c13 of the latter.

1 each Marsh Harrier & Hen Harrier (m).

12 Greater 🦩 Flamingo.

1 LRP. 2 Common Sandpiper. Pr Avocet. 10/11 BW Stilt -a few on the nest.

5 Shelduck 1 Gadwall.

3/4 Zitbags. 1each Reed & Sedge Warbler. 3 Sardines and a couple singing warblers I need to follow up on - old age is a bugger.

What else? Oh Couple Hoopoe. 4 Swift 1 Little Grebe. 1 Little Egret. How could I forget a Spotted Flycatcher.

Friday In Flight Saturday Overwhelmed

Friday 25 landed in never mever land where the first bird I saw was a magnificent House Sparrow 🤓. It went downhill then with a brief view of a distant Eagle species. Picked up only slightly with good views of a flying Cattle Egret 🙂.

Today Saturday 26 April. Hoping for a Dunnock the first bird I got was a singing Nightingale oh well. The forest was dirty filthy rotten with noisy Crossbills 😋. 4 Hoopoe heard or seen. Bee-eaters heard.

On the way down to the coastline: 2 Spotted Flycatcher & 4/5 Swift. 4 Stonechat in the scrubland.

1 Shag, 3 YLG & 5 Audouins Gull. 11 Turnstone were the only wader species present. 1 Grey Heron. As I was heading back to the hotel a pr Common Tern flew past calling 👍.

A word about Turnstone if you will. They are disgustingly cheeky birds 🤨. 6 of em were feeding together on the sandy beach and also the rocks. They didn’t give a damn about the birder 3 yards away getting his knickers in a twist photographing them. Nor did they care two hoots about holiday makers walking or jogging near them. Ignorant buggers 😅.

Mixenden Res To Ogden Water

Circumstance dictated a reversal of the normal route this typical wet Bank Holiday Monday.

Nothing at all on Mixenden Res and no exciting cheeps and chirps from the trees.

Couple Curlew at Stod Fold.

The Mute Swan is still present on Ogden Water. A Cormorant was stood on the W shore. 6/7 large gulls in the middle.

WW were making plenty of noise, probably 9/10 of em. Couple Chiffchaff heard also. Others: Blackbird, singing Song Thrush, Robins yawn zzzz

Soil Hill And Ogden Again

A return to winter this morning in a perishing E'ly wind. Nothing to shout about (now ain’t that unusual).

Soil Hell: 4 Curlew ditto Skylark couple Meadow Pipit.

2 WW 3 Blackbird 4 Chaffinch.

Ogden Water: pr Tufted Duck. The Mute Swan still present. 8 Herring & a couple LBB Gull.

1 Pied Wagtail ditto Mistle Thrush. Couple Chiffchaff, 10 WW.

Couple Curlew at Stod Fold. I refuse to mention the final venue 🤨.

Soil Hill Ogden Water Route

A cold start that fortunately got warmer. Soil Hill: The Swallow I photographed was perched on the wire again in the same spot. 1 each Curlew & Pied Wagtail. 3 singing Skylark, pr Blackbird. Couple Chaffinch ditto Goldfinch.

Ogden Water was livelier today. A Mute Swan 🦢 was feeding close to the W shore. A pr Grey Heron flew in and started prospecting. A pr Tufted Duck were floating around. Most encouraging was the loud sound of a Tawny Owl 🦉 hooting 👍.

Couple WW at Brookhouse. 8 Curlew at Stod Fold.

Mixenden Res was vacant despite the calm water. Couple Chiffchaff in the wood.

A Very Cold Edge

A return to Winter today with low temperatures and gusting winds. Despite the threat the rain didn’t come down.

Got my first Red Grouse of the year 😊. Can’t remember my last Snipe but last spring springs to mind so it was good to hear one chipping twice 😀.

12 Meadow Pipit, 1 Skylark,  4/5 Curlew, 4 Lapwing. 2 Goldfinch 5 Blackbird.

Both dams empty bar one Canada. 4 Greylag airborne.

Cold Edge To Ogden

Saved a bit on the old legs thanks to the gusting wind buffeting me around.

Cold Edge: 1 Swallow 4 Chaffinch pr Pied Wagtail.

Waders - 3 Lapwing 1 Oystercatcher ditto Redshank. Curlews thinly spread. 3/4 Meadow Pipit.

c11 LBBG on Ogden Water which was very choppy.

A Surprise Annual At Cold Edge

Another warm un that boosted my 2025 list by 2 species 😌. My first Wheatear was a male on a wall up Lumb Lane. The next addition really was unexpected but most welcome. In a row of bushes just below Leadbeater Dam a female Redstart was flitting about 😁. 

Not much wader activity besides Curlews. 2 Lapwing in separate fields. A pr Tufted on Haigh Cote Dam.  2 Grey Wagtail. 1 Swallow ditto WW & Reed Bunting. 2 Meadow Pipit & a Greenfinch.

Lucky for me and my mobile bone a Painted Lady wasn’t in any kind of rush.

Soil Hill Ogden Water Mixenden Res

A Very warm day I'm so glad I left the topcoat in the hovel. A pleasant surprise at the Perspiration Road corner of the hellish hill - 4 Fieldfare - my first in I don't remember how long. 

I got this Swallow in Coal Lane as I was exiting the hill. Also 1 Skylark, 2 Meadow Pipit ditto WW, 4 Curlew. 2/3 Greenfinch.

Ogden Water: Raven overhead giving a Buzzard a reet tellin' off. 3 Chiffchaff  1 WW. 1 Herring Gull & 9 LBBG.

20 Curlew at Stod Fold and a Meadow Pipit.

The Mute Swan (DJS) at Mixenden Res was having a doze. A Chiffchaff was singing. 

Ogden Water To Mixenden

Another sunny day. Ogden: 4 Chiffchaff. Pr Teal the same birds from yesterday at Mixenden Res. Couple Herring Gull 6/7 LBBG.

The stretch from the promenade coughed up 2 Willow Warbler singing away. 1 each Reed Bunting & Skylark.

Nothing doing at Carrs Beck. Curlews around Stod Fold area. 2 singing Chiffchaff at Mixenden.

Cold Edge And Mixenden Res

A fine sunny morning with a light breeze from the SE. This is more like it 😀. Cold Edge: 4 Oystercatcher 5 Lapwing 5 Curlew. 

My first pr Stonechat in quite a while. Pr Linnet ditto Meadow Pipit. 4 Greylag & c25 Canadas. 1 Blackbird.

4 Curlew at Stod Fold with a Pied Wagtail in the vicinity. A surprise at Mixenden Res: a pr Teal were in with 4 Dullard 👍. The woods coughed up a drumming GSW a Green Woodpecker and a singing Chiffchaff.

A Swallow Lifts The Spirits

Ogden Water today was very drab with just a pr Herring Gull & a LBBG seen. The woods produced 5 Chiffchaff & a Song Thrush as well as the expected Tits.

I sat down on a promenade bench for a break and am so glad I did. A Barn Swallow flew across from E to W struggling in the headwind. This is my earliest ever record in the UK 😁.

21 Curlew were at the usual fields near Stod Fold. I saw 4 mebbe 5 Peacock Butterflies around Brookhouse.

I have noticed on the last 3 outings that in Queensbury and the areas I visit Greenfinch are being seen and heard more frequently than in the past few years.

Soil Hill And Ogden Area

Soilage tops only. Chaffinches Goldfinches couple Greenfinch. 3 Curlew 7/8 Meadow Pipit 4 Skylark couple LBBG. Pr Grey Partridge seen again 😊.

I got a txt from DJS about a Whooper Swan while on my way to Ogden Water. It was still present when I arrived.  Gotta admit from this distant photo the bird looks to be short necked with enough black on the bill to make me think of Bewick's as I processed it.

Also 2 f Goosander & a pr Tufted Duck. A Song Thrush and Chiffchaff observed and JL chatted with.

Got my first Dipper in quite some time in Hebble Brook at Stod Fold 👍.