Roils Head

Nick Dawtrey posting - 1 female type Black Redstart found this evening just after 6 p m on the walls between Roils Head and Mount Tabor.

Castle Carr Road

Poor weather this afternoon in the drizzle but managed to binscope one of 2 Whinchats. 4 Stonechats there along with c25 Meadow Pipits and 6 Linnets. Also near the old railway cabins 23 Twite feeding again on Ragwort but not able to see if any were ringed.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtery - 1 Yellow Wagtail there this afternoon.

Withens Gap/Cold edge

No Twite today but 2 Wheatears at Withens Gap and 1 Whinchat, 4 Stonechats and c12 Linnets at Cold Edge.

Soil Hill

Black Redstart still at the Sun Farm paddock today at 11.25 a m.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtrey. This afternoons fall of migrants at this site included 5 Redstarts, 3 Spotted Flycatchers, c40 Willow Warblers and a similar number of Pied Wagtails.

Black Redstart

Blackred found again this evening in pylon field Perseverence Rd at 1930hrs but only showed briefly. Unfortunately I arrived at 1940 to achieve my double dip. BS

Female Pintail Ringstone 2PM

Underbank, Hebden Bridge

A quick 20 minutes this afternoon:
- 2 garden warbler
- 2 blackcap
- 15 house martin over > s
- 3 bullfinch
- green woodpecker
- 2 jay
- numerous juv robins
- 1 willow warbler

Feeding station Elland GP

At a recent CBCG meeting it was suggested we should set up feeding stations at Elland GP, one aimed at Yellowhammers and another at general bird feeding, if anyone has any spare feeders they no longer use and would like to donate them to this project please get in touch.

We are also looking at setting up a feeding station at Bradley Hall again for Yellowhammers.

Thanks

Cold Edge

Juvenile Carrion Crow earlier this week.

This afternoon 1 Whitethroat, 2 Whinchat and 4 Stonechats all together on the small island at Cold Edge. Also a Snipe nearby

2 Twite and c60 Meadow Pipits at Withens Gap.

Black Redstart

Well done Nigel - such a good find today. Sorry Sean my pics are not up to your standard but will put my digiscope one on just the same!

Black Redstart

Showing in garden and paddock of Perseverance lane just down from soil hill, if you turned down Taylor Lane and look back up the hill you got some better views.

Good find Nigel

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?&t=l&map=53.77529,-1.87393174&loc=GB:53.77529:-1.87393:17#t=l&map=53.77529,-1.87393174&loc=GB:53.77529:-1.87393:17

Ringstone

Three Dunlin there this afternoon plus a couple of juvvy Great Crested Grebes feeding on small fish.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtrey. Redstart still there along with a Spotted Flycatcher this afternoon. Still a few Willow Warblers about as well.

Garden Birds (rishworth)

1 Sparow hawk early this morning

2 Nuthatch coming and going all day

1 Willow warbler ( i think) top pic

2 Great spotted woodpecker

1 Kestrel

2 Jay

6 Jack daw

1 Collared dove

6 Green finch

4 Chaffinch

along with many dunnocks,Robins,great tit,blue tit and coal tits

Shibden Valley

Checked the upper valley area this afternoon. Not a lot about other than a famale Sparrowhawk and 2 Kestrels. Also a female Blackcap gorging itself on Blackberries. Several Bullfinch about and also a Little Owl.

Also had a look at Swales Moor landfill areas where the Shorelark stayed earlier in the year till about 26th March (my last sighting). There is quite a lot of excavation work going on but the area where the Shorelark was most regularly seen looks good again for wild flowers etc. Lets hope the Skylarks return later in the year along with any other interesting birds! Just a few Goldfinch and a Meadow Pipit this afternoon.

Shibden

Report received of a redstart in the valley 2pm

Twite summer summary

I have just completed a summary of the records I have for twite for this last breeding season ready to pass onto Hugh Firman (our representative on the South Pennines Twite Group), if anyone thinks they may have records I have missed please get in touch and I'll E mail a copy of the summary to update. Everyone who has contributed should have received a copy by now for approval, many thanks to those who got involved. Although we were unable to locate many breeding birds there are quite good post breeding flocks around at the moment, ringing work is ongoing in the hope that we may be able to discover the origins of these birds.

FLY FLATTS

Rough seas at Fly Flatts
---------------------------
27/08/2007 0715-1000hrs Freezing cold NW>6 easing to 4 and warming up mid a.m. Sunshine.
VIS MIG :-
SWALLOW......................................................42 >WNW
MIPIT.............................................................55 >WNW
ALBA WAG.....................................................6 >W
MISTLE THRUSH............................................9 >W
SNIPE.............................................................3 >W

Other :-
2 Grey Partridge
8 Twite.... Unringed
4 Common Gulls very high >S
All Canada geese gone.
BS

Underbank - 10am

4 blackcap (all female type)
3 willow warbler
2 chiffchaff (still calling)
2 Green woodpecker
Kestrel
2 bullfinch
Nuthatch still calling in Jumble Hole woods

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtrey for 26th August 2007. One possibly two redstarts still there plus several willow warblers and great spotted woodpecker.

Wainstalls - Castle Carr Road

2 Whinchat there this afternoon along with a female Merlin over the moor into Luddenden Dean and 4 Twite near the railway cabins.

FLY FLATTS

26/08/2007 0730-1000hrs Sunny, cloud to W, WNW>2 inc >4.
VIS MIG :-
SWALLOW......................................91 >W
HOUSE MARTIN............................3 >W
MIPIT............................................65 >W
TREE PIPIT.....................................1 >W
SKYLARK........................................1W
ALBA WAG......................................2 >W
WHEATEAR.....................................1 on deck
WHINCHAT.....................................1 on deck, nw corner

Other :-
8 Red Grouse
1 Kestrel
1f Mallard + 7 very young
1f Mallard + 4 half grown,1 being white.
No Twite all morning.
BS

Shibden

8 House Martins still visiting the nest sites at Godley Gardens.
Usual ducks, adult and well grown juvenile moorhens in the park.
3 Willow warblers in Cunnery Wood.
1 spotted flycatcher.




Heard bullfinch and saw what I took to be a juvenile though it looked pretty scruffy.
Heard GS Woodpecker drumming and a couple of jays.

Cock Hill, nr. Hebden Bridge

2 raven, 5 red grouse, 1 kestrel, all seen from car.

Tree Pipit

1 over Midgley today.

Swift

One swift 25/8/07 @ 1300 hrs >N ! Over Holmfield. (It looked confused).
Bruce

Jumble Hole

2 nuthatch this morning - the first I've had here since winter. Adult and well grown young roe deer.

Lee Mount

A Redpoll went over by the park this morning.

Ogden

Couldn't find much there this afternoon - just a Whinchat at the top end of Ogden Clough on the edge of the moor. Quite a lot of Meadow Pipits and Swallows there too. Also a Chiff-chaff around the reservoir.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtrey - 2 Tree Pipits there this afternoon.

Cold Edge/Fly Flatts etc

23/08/07 Cold Edge - 1 Moorhen, 4 Linnet and 2 Red Grouse.

Withens Gap - c30 Twite feeding on the landfill area between Withens Gap and Cold Edge, also 1 young Snipe there, 5 Wheatear and 40 Meadow Pipit and 35 Starling.

Fly Flatts - pair of Stonechat with at least 2 fledged young, 4 Twite at the feeding station and a Whitethroat in the gully below the Twite feeding area. Not a bad bird at 1,300 ft - and out in the open to digiscope!

3 Kestrel over the moor and 3 Curlew >NE, 60 Meadow Pipits and 3 Wheatears.

Castle Carr Road 10 Twite feeding on Ragwort along with several Goldfinch, also c8 Wheatears along the road to Wainstalls.

green withens

1 teal flew through in bad light thought it may have been a gadwall but alas no!!!!!
1 peregrine
1 kestrel
2 wheatears
2 stonechats

House martins

130 house martins (plus one swallow) on the wires outside my house (Jumble Hole) this morning, and we don't usually get house martins around here.

High Royd - 18:45 - 19:30 21 Aug.

Very little about on dry beds, but coot was heard from the back of the area, so there must be some water there. + 16 magpies, 30 carrion crows.

Wainstalls/Cold Edge/Fly Flatts etc

This afternoon - Cold Edge - 1 Cormorant >W, 5 Wheatear, 2 Grey Partridge and 3 Stonechats.

Fly Flatts - c14 Twite on and off at the feeding station. Peregrine over and 2 Wheatear around the res'r.

High Brown Knoll - 6 Red Grouse.

Castle Carr Road - c28 Twite in the field after the old railway cabins and also on the roadside verges. 1 Wheatear also there and c20 Meadow Pipit .

Luddenden Dean - 2 Kestrel and 2 Green Woodpeckers near the lower lodge

Dean Clough

Juvenile Peregrine circling the big chimney this afternoon at 3.15 pm and calling a lot - then flew off towards the town centre.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtery. This afternoon still at least 2 Redstart there along with 2 Wheatear and 4 Willow Warbler and lots of Pied Wagtail.

Help for newbies

I often take out people who are becoming or have shown an interest in moths or other insects on short field trips to point out how to find and record them. Having been helped out in this way myself when I first started recording moths and finding it much quicker way to becoming more competent in my identifications and probably more importantly in the case of insects, how to find the early stages which are sometimes the easiest way to confirm species. I wonder if anyone in the bird group is willing to take out newbies on field trips with the same view in mind? This need not be anything special as it could simply take the form of a trip out to a local area they would be visiting anyway. I have often seen birders whilst out cycling etc and most seem only too willing to have a chat about what is around at the moment, this would be just taking it a stage further.

I also wonder if someone could do a brief description with salient features illustrated of similar or difficult species ? Having had trouble sorting out various very similar looking LBJ moths in my early days I can see the pitfalls of this with birds. Often in moth guides ones sees two species that are very similar but once you have seen both (or had the differences pointed out in the field) they become very easy to separate and you wonder why you thought it difficult in the first place.

I realise that most of us are very busy with work and family life and don't want to squander what little free time we have for our hobbies on dragging other people around, but the occasional half hour would help people becoming interested in birds to speed up the learning curve

Birds at Cromwell Bottom

Goosander numbers are starting to build up already at CB this season. We spotted at least eight individuals last week and this morning spotted a group (Flock ?) of 18. All redheads so presumably females or immatures ? Also spotted (or heard) Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Tree Creeper, Wren, Robin, Tit spp, Sparrowhawk, Heron, Hedge Sparrow (or whatever its now called), Blackbird, Mistle Thrush,Magpie, Jay, Crow and various little brown jobs I could not ID safely. Nothing particularly exciting but at least plenty to view in a one hour walk round with the dog. I assume Tree Creeper is rather under recorded rather than scarce in Calderdale ? I see them regularly enough on my morning walks (one of my favorite birds) but cannot recall any other mentions on this blog.

Swifts

Further to recent postings on Swifts I have just returned from topping up the feeding station on the Midgley side of the Luddenden Valley where there were three Swifts overhead.

Fieldfares at Lowfields

Sue and I spotted a small flock of Fieldfares feeding on Rowan Berries on the Lowfields Industrial Estate this morning. We got good views of a few of the birds (around 12 or so in the flock) as we ran past whilst out jogging but I am not sure if Redwings were mixed in with them as they took off as we got nearer. Another newbie question, is this not early in the season for Fieldfares as I usually see them in Winter or early Spring ?

Fly Flatts

Scud over the moor
_________________
19/08/2007 0730-0930 bright start,with mist patches,heavy rain and fog by 0900hrs NNE>3

Vis Mig:-
34 Swallows ...........>SW
8 House Martins.....>SW
8 Alba Wags...........>W
3 Wheatear on deck
27 Mipits..............>W
200 + Grounded Mipits

Other :-
22 Twite, all seemed to be unringed.
+ usual sp. BS

roils head

from nick d

drizzle this evening dropped 5 tree pipits onto roils head, the purple patch continues!!!!
tree pipit 'digibinned' also the juv redstart still present

Ogden

Visit this morning to check the woodland and reservoir. 120 Mallard (including oddities!) , 40+ Black-headed Gull and 30+ Common Gulls and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Not much in the woodland other than Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrest and Treecreeper. Also a Green Woodpecker on Ogden Lane and a few Swallows around - that was about it! Not a sign of any Swifts since 2 last Saturday over Lee Mount - anyone else had any?

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtery - 2 Redstart, 11+ Willow Warblers, 19 Pied Wagtail, 2 Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk over today.

Roils Head

Redstart still there this afternoon along with several Willow Warblers -per Nick Dawtrey.

Norland Moor

Sue & I spotted what we believe was a Snipe today on a pool on Norland Moor. The dog flushed it from some Juncus by a pool on the moor. We didn't get the bins on it but it had the usual zig-zag flight and general "Jizz" of Snipe I have see at Cromwell Bottom. We also got brief views of a Redstart in a Sycamore in a field immediately adjacent to the moor before it departed into the distance. Both birds are firsts for Norland and the Redstart was a first for Calderdale for us both as we have only ever seen these in the dales.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtrey from this afternoon. 1 Redstart still there along with 4 Willow Warbler, 8 Pied Wagtail and 2 Kestrels.

Cold Edge

Posting for Nick Dawtery from yesterday. 6 Stonechat, 3 Wheatear and 1 Peregrine over. Also albino wild rabbit there.

Roils Head 15th August

Seems like Im back blogging again.

Roils Head PM
Just 1 Redstart today, 14 Willow Warblers, 35 Pied Wagtails, 2 Bullfinch, 6 Greenfinch, 2 Coal Tits, several Meadow Pipits, 2 Kestrels and a couple of Wrens and Blackbirds.

Roils Head

Nick Dawtrey posting - 4 Redstart still there this afternoon (in the pouring rain) along with c100 Starling and 8+! Willow Warblers. Lesser Whitethroat could still be there but elusive unless you can pick up its call first.

SWIFTS

Anyone still getting any Swifts, just getting an odd 1 or 2 now >S over Queensbury down the Calder Valley.

Roils Head

Posting for Nick Dawtery. Lesser Whitethroat again this afternoon in the scrub area to the rear of Shacks House (the house in the middle of the playing fields). Also 4 Redstart on the site and Willow Warblers and Pied Wagtails in good numbers.

Underbank, Hebden Bridge

A small amount of migrants around, including 5 blackcap (4 female type, 1 male) and 2 willow warblers all crammed into the same small hawthorne! 45 house martins low over SW.

Grapevine update

Following discussions with Dave Sutcliffe we have agreed that it is better if messages for the grapevine are sent to me (Nick C) in a morning and to Dave in an afternoon, this will prevent any problems being caused by me not having a mobile signal at home. Please therefore disregard David's earlier post.

Feeding Stations & Nestboxes

I have been surveying the Lowfields Business park for several years now, mainly looking for moths, but in recent times noting down the birds seen. I have made an approach to the management who run the site about doing more work on site and improving the habitat for wildlife where possible. With this in mind my next approach will be to Marshall's who have offices on site and a large display garden. I hope to persuade them to install some bat boxes on their office (bats use the canal adjacent to the office to hunt at dusk) and a feeding station for birds. My idea is that if I can persuade Marshall's to set up this equipment and fund the running of it I might then be in a stronger position to encourage other companies to follow suit.

From the Bird Group; I would like a bit of moral support when asked for and also advice as to local suppliers of nest boxes and feeding station equipment.....in fact any help or suggestions gratefully received ! I will in return keep the group updated on developments and get a piece in the local press about the positive conservation the bird group carries out locally.

Roils Head

Posting request from Nick Dawtrey from this afternoon at Roils Head.

1 Tree Pipit, 2 Redstart, 10 Willow Warblers, 20 Long-tailed Tits and 8 Pied Wagtails. Also on Heath Hill Road - 3 Kestrels and several Willow Warblers

Whiteholme Lighthazzles and Warland

Visit this am and as expected the Avocet had gone, but a few Twite and Wheatears there.

Still, and interesting 2 hrs there with a Green Sandpiper on Lighthazzles which was flushed by an early morning back-packer. It flew off into one of the drains below the res'r and there was a Willow Warbler on the embankment wall along with several Wheatears.

Warland produced several Wheatears and a Mallard duck with 10 fairly small ducklings but no waders.

However on my return to Lighthazzles I heard a drawn out, continuous panick alarm from what I am almost sure was the Green Sandpiper clutched by a Peregrine which was flying over the res'r holding a small wader which continued calling its death alarm until the Peregrine was out of sight somewhere on the moor. I used to like Peregrines but have suddenly gone off them!!!!!!!!!

Well done to those who ticked the Avocet yesterday afternoon.

Fly Flatts

12/08/2007 Early sun then cloudy,heavy rain and
fog by 0915. SW>3-4
Vis Mig:-
Fall of Wheatear... 17 by boathouse
5 on rocks on moor
3 by feeding station
6 NW corner
Total.... 31
46 Swallow............>SW
9 House Martins....>SW
Other :-
2 ad Pied Wags + 4 juvs
1 Tufted in eclipse
Twite back to none.
Few blogging Mipits
+ usual sp. BS

White Holme Avocet - Gone

Sunday 6:45 am

No sign of the avocet. 5 mallard on the island.
Counted 10 wheatear on the shore.
Flock of about 30 twite - all the ones I checked were unringed.
Peregrine perched in one of the electricity pylons.
At least it didn't start raining until I was back at the car!

Ringed Plover/LRP BTO Survey

Yesterday I spent some time with Mike Denton our BTO Regional Rep and took the opportunity to pass on the completed RP/LRP survey forms from our area. Mike asked me to pass on his thanks to those who carried out the survey work so a public thank you from the BTO to Dave Sutcliffe, Andy Cockroft and Tim Walker.

avocet whiteholme 11th august 2007

nick d is still having blog probs!

so he e-mailed me his pics

avocet

avocet whiteholme

just got back from whiteholme bird still present on the island,hope it stays for those not quick off the mark!!!

Avocet

An avocet was found today at Whiteholme Reservoir. This is only the second record for Calderdale, the first being two birds at Redmires Dam in September 1950!
More details will no doubt follow.

Cold Edge and Fly Flatts

More from Nick D and Steve Cummings tonight

Cold Edge
1 Whinchat
6 Stonechat
8 Wheatear

Fly Flatts
4 Wheatear

Grapevine - final reminder

The cut off date for those who have not yet paid their grapevine subs is 12th August, non payers will not receive texts after this date (unless they pay again!)

Latest sightings

John B had a Whimbrel at Ringstone last night and Nick D reports two Redstarts at Roils Head today, yesterdays birds were both female types whereas one of todays was a young male suggesting either three birds present or movement through the area. Nick and Roy also checked Elland GP for the swallow roost and found approx 1000 birds present, a number which should increase as autumn approaches. Anyone thinking of checking this roost is advised to take insect repellant, apparently they are very bad at the moment.

Roils Head

Nick D still unable to post so has asked me to post the prescence of 2 Redstarts at Roils Head this morning (found by Gordon Denison).

Roils Head today

Nick D is having problems posting again so has asked me to post his sightings from Roils Head today. Red letter day with his first Lesser Whitethroat for the site, found at 1545 and relocated about an hour later by Gordon also present were a Wheatear and a dozen Willow Warblers.

I had a brief visit to Ringstone tonight where there were a couple of Wheatears and two Great crested Grebes along with a Curlew but little else. Sean Gray has been ringing Twite at Deer Hill reservoir (Huddersfield) and had an excellent day catching 83 birds none of which had been ringed before, thank God somewhere has got some twite!

Roadside verges

Following on from a post made by Paul Talbot back in June (reproduced below) I have now received copies of maps showing the areas of roadside verge currently considered of value, I'm sure there will be local birders who know of other areas worthy of late cutting. If anyone who wants copies of these maps drop me an E mail and I'll post them on (I'm afraid I don't have them in electronic form), any new areas will be passed onto the Council via Hugh Firman.




Hugh Firman, Andy Cockroft and myself did a very quick survey yesterday of some of the upland verges I mentioned in a previous posting to this forum. The consensus was that we need to flag up all suitable verges within around 2 k of any known Twite breeding sites for further surveys to see if Sorrel is present. We managed to flag up a considerable area yesterday simply by driving round the sites and noting down which verges had a good amount of Sorrel and seeding grasses. The hope is that we can arrange through liaison with highways and grass cutting at Calderdale Council to have these verges left as late as possible in the annual cutting regime. It should be possible if we can get some standardised maps printed out for people to look over a few verges whilst out and about and simply mark up ones they think would be suitable for the cutting plan. I think its most important to concentrate on the MINOR road verges as its much more difficult to slow up cuts on main roads due to the safety implications about overgrown verges on these roads. We must have hundreds of miles of mini-nature reserves and corridors in Calderdale just on the minor road verges ! It should be easy enough for anyone out and about birding around the area to note down suitable verges without going out on a special trip to do so, as between us we must cover most of Calderdale weekly.

common scoter

just two more pictures of the common scoter

6th August

Roils Head
1 Wheatear was new, still 5 Willow Warblers present.
Heath Hill Road
Little Owl, 2 Juv Kestrels and a Willow Warbler.

Cold Edge Dams this evening.
6 Teal, 9 Grey-lag Geese, 1 Oystercatcher, 2 Kestrels, 2 juv Stonechats, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Willow Warbler.Also a falconer with a Peregrine.

Last night Common Buzzard mobbed by a Short-eared Owl at an undisclosed site.

Oystercatcher

OK so its not quite 38 Common Scoter but just had an Oystercatcher flying over Midgley this evening.

green withens 38-ringstone 1.

a landslide defeat for ringstone!!!! though with scaup and better pictures of the scoter at ringstone everyones a winner.
the scoter were in the very western end of the res in bad light,looked settled when i left at 1835 even a peregrine bombing along the shore and a tornado overhead at....well it was fast and low didn't spook them.

also

common gull 3
black headed gull 1
wheatear 1
swallow 2
peregrine 1 juv

common scoter
green withens

Common Scoter

Adult male at Ringstone this morning from 10:15-11:30 at least. Immature/female Scaup also in close attendance.

green withens 0730-0900/1715-1815

a short visit this morning

wheatear 1
stonechat 3juvs
swallow 4
common gull 4
black headed gull 20+
yellow wagtail 1 juv(type)

the yellow wagtail was seen at 0845 behind the depot next to the main road.texted to both nc and djs but the message was not recieved until 12ish.

yellow wagtail
green withens

stonechat
green withens

also spent an hour so this morning with jb at ringstone,

black headed gull 500+
peregrine 1 juv chasing anything that moved
swift 2 sw
redpoll 1 sw
willow warbler 6+ moving sw

5th august

Roils Head
5 Willow Warblers, 3 Pied Wags and 2 Coal Tits.
Heath Hill Road
3 Juvenile Kestrels still present.

Soil Hill

Soil Hill is getting covered with an assortment of
wild flowers although the scrapes are mostly dry.
05/08/2007 1615-1700hrs Hot and sunny.SW>3
9 Woodpigs
2 Skylark
4 Linnet
1 Kestrel
2 Swifts >S
Sev feeding Swallows
BS

Fly Flatts

South watch point and helpers.
05/08/2007 0715-1015hrs Sunny, clear blue skies SW >3 . not moving weather.
Vis Mig :-
SWALLOW........................31 >SW
HOUSE MARTIN...............3 >SW
SWIFT..............................1 >S
CURLEW..........................2 very high and >SW
WHEATEAR.....................1 on deck

Other :-
12 Red Grouse, hope they keep their heads down next week
on : Sad Mans 12th.
9 Linnet
Twite flock now increased to 1.
+ usual sp.
No sign of GDs Whinchat family at Withins Gap. BS

High Royd

After a record levels of rainfall, pool 'number one' at High Royd remains powder dry. Vegetation (nearly all balsam) is taking over, even right out in the middle.

2nd August

2 Peregrines went screaming over my House at 12.30pm, chasing each other and making a right racket.
Roils Head
8 Willow Warblers, 4 Coal Tits, 1 Wren.
Heath Hill Road
1 Little Owl, just 1 Kestrel today, 3 LBBGs, 1 Common Gull and several BHGs feeding in fields also 1 Willow Warbler.

Cromwell Bottom Works

I have been contacted by an ecologist working for the company employed by Calderdale Council who are carrying out a survey of the as yet uncapped North Bank Loop at CB. She asked me for any notable records within 500 mtrs of the proposed works. As far as I am aware there is no records of any notable species of flora or fauna in the proposed works or immediate environs ? If you have any concerns about this work can you contact me or Hugh Firman ASAP.

From my brief discussion on the phone with the ecologist yesterday it seems that only the top of the old land fill will be removed and recapped. She also told me in answer to a question that she did not see the need for too much disturbance to the scrub surrounding the old tip site.

scaup ringtone edge

whilst at green withens this evening sean gray rang me to say a friend had seen a possible scaup at ringstone but without a scope he wasn't sure but was 60/40 in favour of scaup.i arrived at about 1815 and found a duck asleep just by the hide,through a 60x zoom it was an obvious female/imm scaup due to the large size and the rounded head,but waited until it i woke to confirm,it woke as i got a text off dave sutcliffe asking if anyone could take a look,so i put the news out,when i left at 1837 it was still present.

green withens

snipe 2 high west
black headed gull 37 west
wheatear 2
+ usual

Last night Owling

Went out last night with Steve C looking for leos again, but with no luck. It seems that the young have probably dispersed from the two breeding sites we checked. Also checked a new site but with no luck. We did however have 6 Tawny Owls, 1 Woodcock, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Stock Dove, 9 Linnets and a Grey Heron.

Roils Head 1st August
3 Willow Warblers and 3 wrens.
Heath Hill Road
6 Kestrels up together, appeared to be 5 young birds and an adult female, also the Little Owl was back perched on a wall.