Saturday, May 19, 2007

Industrial Estates

I pass through Lowfields "Business Park" most days of the week in the course of my work. Recently having started to note down which birds I spot locally, I realised Lowfields seems to contain a large and varied bird population. Some birds that I see around Calderdale occur in large (or large to me anyway) numbers on Lowfields. For example I might be lucky to spot Goldfinch on my morning walk with the dog down to Cromwell Bottom, but can guarantee to spot anything from a dozen to thirty on a quick walk around Lowfields. I had a quick look round yesterday and spotted Geenfinch, Goldfinch. Bullfinch, Willow Warbler, Linnet, Jay, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Blackbird, Missle Thrush, Song Thrush. OK,nothing particularly exciting, but I did spot the birds in larger numbers than I do around Cromwell Bottom and imagine what a proper birder might have found ? The birds were all seen in one small section of Lowfields in around 20 Minutes.

I have a few points to make about this:
Does anyone check such industrial or former industrial sites in Calderdale ? If not it might be worth someone going round a couple just to see if they are worth investigating in Calderdale.
They might be good sites to stick up nest boxes and feeding stations as A/ its very convenient as most sites have roads running all round and through them. B/ Many of the companies on such sites would be happy to pay for boxes and stocking feeding stations as its good publicity and good for staff morale.
As many will know my main interest is in Moths and such industrial sites are one of the first places I check for moth species that are spreading North and might hopefully be found in Calderdale. Industrial estates are very good for finding such moths as some moths will inadvertently "hitch" a lift on lorries from other areas and secondly many of the micromoths can be found on the plants brought in large numbers to plant such places. I wont go into details but I tracked one new micro moth to Calderdale on Sycamore by driving round and checking Sycamore near major roads in Calderdale. It was very common on roadside Sycamore but almost impossible to find a few hundred yards from the road on seemingly ideal looking Sycamores. Had I looked for this more pleasant traditional recording areas I would have concluded it did not occur in Calderdale......perhaps we are missing some birds in Calderdale for the same reason ? I realise of course that birds and moths are completely different, but perhaps by concentrating on "traditional" bird watching areas important birds or migrants are being missed in industrial sites ?

2 comments:

Nick Carter said...

Interesting stuff Paul and certainly something to follow up. Despite the increased numbers of birders now active in Calderdale our area is still very underwatched with many birders (myself included) covering their own favourite areas leaving lots of sites totally unchecked. As an example I was delighted to discover what a brilliant little spot the sludge treatment works are at Cooper Bridge (doesn't sound very romantic I agree!)but despite birding locally for many more years than I care to remember I had never been there before. Similarly I don't think many people cover some of the valleys and cloughs in the west of our area, I wonder what's lurking up there undiscovered? Anybody fancy pioneering a new site? Darrel has shown what can be achieved by regularly visiting a formerly uncovered area.

Terrible weather this morning, got up 0430 to do BBS in Withens Clough, didn't last long, horizontal rain!!

Goldon Gordon said...

Sue and I just got back from Norland Moor, absolutely bloody soaked:-((

I know what you mean about areas uncovered.Before some of the bird club members got involved there was only Sue and I recording moths in Calderdale to any degree...and its a big area to cover! I was surprised that Broadhead Clough did not get much coverage in any reports I have seen. Its the only Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserve in the area and its excellant I would have though for Fly Catchers and Redstarts ? I did a couple of years back record Pied Flycatcher in the Clough, but have no idea if its ever bred their ? Maybe a list of "target" sites could be drawn up with people in the vicinity volunteering to check them out a couple of times a year ?

I have been going to contact the site owners at Lowfields for ages now to see how they feel about letting me wander around surveying the lepidoptera of the site. The bird thing has made me determined to follow this up next week.

This thread I suggest makes the point that any website set up should consider all local flora and fauna and not just birds ?