Friday, February 29, 2008

sponsor

hi guys
just to let you know that im doing a sponsored no computer for a week for the rainham marshes appeal led by the RSPB. this means that i will be unable to post starting tomorow uptil next friday

just thought id let you known

Ogden Water

Drake Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe still there this morning.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Binoculars for sale

We have now closed the collection of optics for Malta and have sufficient binoculars for their needs with several over, it is our intention to sell or trade-in these extras against telescopes and tripods for the ALE. Rather than trade them in immediately we wanted to give local birders the opportunity to buy them if anyone wants to. All the binoculars have been valued by a birder who regularly deals in optics so we feel the prices fairly reflect their worth, these are as follows


Swift 8 x 42 in a black soft case £80

Bushnell 8 x 42 WA in a black case £50

Zeiss Dekarem 10 x 50 in a brown leather case £100

If anyone is interested in any of these please get in touch with me or Steve Downing

In addition to these we also have a number of pairs of cheaper bins which are really probably only fit to sell via a car boot sale or similar, does anyone go to car boot sales and would be prepared to sell these for us?

28th Feb

Cold Edge PM
Huge female Peregrine over Wainstalls, Oystercatcher, 15 Greylag Geese, Reed Bunting, Lesser BB Gull and a Hare thankfully not being chased by a pack of hounds at Cold Edge 2.pm.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Halifax Town Centre

Female Blackbird sitting on nest this morning.

Salterhebble

Cormorant circling over the water treatment works this morning.

Booth Wood Res'r

6 Great Black-backed Gulls through there this morning >W

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Corvids on Saville Park. The Moor

Interesting how the windy conditions make the ground feeding birds huddle into more compact flocks than usual.
In just one group there were 25 Jackdaws, 14 Rooks and 8 Carrion crows, feeding together.
A good place to look at their differences, the turf being so short, or especially if they are scavanging around the fishshop tables.
Incidentaly, the local name "The Moor" seems inappropriate but there is a photograph in exsistence, I think its in one of the Old Halifax books, of the area looking something like Norland Moor does at present - all heathery with sandy criss-crossing paths.
Steve Blacksmith

Luddenden Dean

Very quiet in the dean today with the strong wind keeping all the birds down.
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Kestrel
6 Bullfinch
Lots of Tits around the feeders at Jerusalem Farm and around a cottage further up the dean.
1 Dipper on the new pond just below Jowler.
2 Herring Gulls >W

jackdaws

200 ish jackdaws just gone over my house. thts the most i've ever seen

Monday, February 25, 2008

Ogden

Back Lane fields this afternoon;

40 Fieldfare
30 Lapwings
c140 Starlings
8 Mistle Thrush
2 Stock Doves
2 Kestrel
2 Goosander over >W

Res'r
1 Great Crested Grebe
5 Canada Geese
85 Mallard

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Bird food at bargain prices!

Thanks to Mick Sharp we now have access to a supplier of bird food at amazing prices. Some examples (with the CJ price in brackets for comparison) are

Black sunflower seed £16 for 20Kg (£32 at CJ)
Nyjer seed £22 for 20Kg (£36 at CJ)
Sunflower hearts £24 for 20Kg (£52 at CJ)
General bird seed mix £7 for 20Kg
Fat Balls £10 for 100

Not only are these excellent prices but the chap who sells it is based locally at Lane Head near Waring Green (the Pet Shop opposite the Crown Pub). Please be aware he is only open in the afternoons and will need a day or so notice to get what you want. If you want to order any just contact me and I'll pass on his phone number.

Thanks to Mick Sharp for bringing this to our attention.

manor heath

hundreds of redwings this morning.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Walsden

Two dippers in the Calder near B&S Motors this morning - 'singing' to each other.

Saturday @ Deanhead

3 Goldeneye (2 drakes), a pair of Goosander, one Teal and a Kestrel - about as good as it gets for the Res. itself. Nothing around and about in the valley, too windy. Couldn't find any Little Owls at Norland, 10 Greenfinch on wires.

pennine optics

just a quick word.
a very good company,went over today for a new camera lense.very good service.not the cheapest though but at least you can try out what you want to buy,and being close to home means no waiting for the post.

Twite feeding stations

Anyone interested in setting up and running a feeding station this year please get in touch and we'll try and source the Nyger seed required. Does anyone know if Brian (or anyone) is still feeding at Whiteholme?

Last call for Malta Optics

Anyone who still has optics they wish to donate to the Malta fund please let me know ASAP, thanks.

For latest updates and anti Birdlife acts of vandalism on Malta see www.birdlifemalta.org

Friday, February 22, 2008

Halifax Town Centre

Early bird!! Pair of Blackbirds with a newly built nest in a town centre car park this afternoon.

green withens aka windy hill


very windy up here this afternoon and very few birds
only 1 black headed gull which appeared to die in the waves!
also 1 red grouse
that was it no carrion crows,magpies kestrels, which are the usual fodder.

roll on march

Ogden Water

Great Crested Grebe, drake Goldeneye and 1 Curlew flew several times high over the res'r then off towards Thornton Moor this afternoon.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Ringstone Edge

1 hr there this afternoon - very windy and nothing on the res'r - not that I could find anyway!

The surrounding fields were good though, but difficult to count birds in the strong wind.
c220 Golden Plover, c230 Lapwings and c200 Starlings.
The Black-headed Gulls were giving the waders a hard time after their hard found food.

yesterday-ogden

late aft/ early evning
grebe hunting by the edge of the ice
the usual suspects
also 1 grey wagtail by the feeding station

Elland GP

Main and fishing lake this morning;
1 drake Godeneye
1 Little Grebe
19 Tufted Duck
1 drake Pochard
21 Goosander
2 Cormorants
2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Ogden Water

Great Crested Grebe still there along with 1 drake Goldeneye which flew off west at 09.45. A bit too wet for looking for Crossbills!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Ogden Water


Ogden Water - just about frozen over this morning except for one or two areas where the Great Crested Grebe was still catching fish. The last time I saw the water frozen over like this a Slavonian Grebe turned up!
Highlight - other than the scenery was 2 sightings of single (greenish) Crossbills. Both seen from the path around the edge of the res'r.
One flew up Skirden Clough from the west side and the other was over the east side, flew out from the pines and part way across the res'r turned back towards the pines. There maybe others about?
Also Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming in the east wood.

Cromwell Bottom, Wednesday pm,not Monday !!

Over half of the lake frozen, but on the open water were male Pochard, 8 Little Grebes, 14 Coot, 12 Canada Geese, c 150 B H Gulls, with a Heron on the bank and 2 Cormorants on the skiing ramp. Just 3 Goosanders about, and a Treecreeper next to the canal.

medow pipits

saw a flock walking home from school today
fab views on the ground

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Cold Edge

Both dams frozen over today
14 Greylag Geese
34 Mallard
18 Lapwing
1 Kestrel

Fly Flats/Castle Carr

BTO Atlas survey today - what a wonderful sunny day on the tops with all the mist in the valleys.

2 Stonechats on the track down to the sailing club - the res'r was frozen over - long time since I've seen it like that - just a little open water in the middle.
1 Raven over and a few Red Grouse calling on the moor.

Castle Carr
1 m Goldeneye on top res'r
1 Kestrel
1 Dipper
1 Tawny Owl singing away in the woodland at 1.30 pm

Monday, February 18, 2008

Ringstone and Surrounding Fields

On the Res.

20 BH Gull
1 GC Grebe

Feeders

9 Greenfinch
10 Dunnock
1 Chaffinch

North Field

50+ Golden Plover

Fields East of Road

1 Kestrel
1 Little Owl (first of year)

Fields on left of road heading back to West Vale

1 Grey Partridge

Halifax Beacon Hill - midday

60 lapwings, c60 starlings, 8 redwing, 8 common gull, 1 stonechat, 1 pied wagtail. Plenty of goldfinch and probable flock of redpoll over.

Coal, great and blue tit on the road back down to Halifax.

ogden newsflash

my mum says that the grebe is back at ogden
trust that little blighter to stay away when i went with my expensive technology
:-(

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Rare location ?

Little grebe on the top dam at Gibson Mill on Saturday 16th. Never seen one there before.
Not much bird activity along the valley, but a couple of young Roe Deer cantering, not over-alarmed, among the people in the lower part.

Calderdale 2pm - 3.45pm

2 Common Buzzards, 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 4 Sparrowhawk sightings, 1 Kestrel, 1 Grey Heron, 20 Golden Plovers, 8 Stock Doves, Fieldfares and a few Common Gulls moving.

Shibden Valley - Sunday am

Greater spotted and green woodpeckers. 12 bullfinch. 1 treecreeper.




4 goldcrest, 6 greenfinch, 6 chaffinch. A group of 14 magpie on a power line. Mistle and song thrush plus usual robin and tits.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Call for Records.

Please could all those people who submit records to the bird watchers club please forward your sightings for 2007 as soon as possible, to enable me to start work on the next report. The longer Im kept waiting the longer the report will be delayed. I am happy to report that the 2006 bird report is now with the printers and fingers crossed should be out in the next few weeks. (watch this space).

Lower Gorple - 2:00pm - 3:30pm







Beautiful day, but little around, probably due to the volume of walkers. The photo is from the Pennine Bridleway to the south of Gorple, a path I've never explored before.


1 stonechat

1 red grouse

2 kestrel

2 pheasant

4 canada geese


ogden

greater spotted woodpecker there this morning
also 2 long tailed tits on the feeding station
nothing else unless you class the usual

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Fly Flats

Pair of Shoveler had gone this morning, just a fem Goldeneye, a few Golden Plover on the moor and lots of Red Grouse making plenty noise. Also 1 Skylark over the Withens.

Halifax/Beacon Hill - Tuesday midday

Plenty of robins singing up Southowram Bank. Also flock of goldfinch, 1 chaffinch, 1 greenfinch and 3 or 4 redpoll in the alders halfway up.

Usual magpies, jackdaws, crows on the top. Flock of starlings in the fields with about a dozen common gulls.

ogden

all yesterdays waterfowl have either moved on or died.
the grebe was still showing well.
trying out new technology :) with our new spotting scope
fab views of the grebe
nothing else worth looking at
the usual gulls, canada geese and mallards.

Fly Flats/Cold Edge



Drake Shoveler at Fly Flats yesterday - female also present. Also 5 Herring Gulls through and Golden Plover around on the moor.

70+ Lapwings over Cold Edge >E, 7 Greylag Gees and c18 Fieldfares still about near Withens Gap

Monday, February 11, 2008

Shibden/Sunny Vale - Sunday am

2 canada geese in Shibden Park lake early on Sunday morning - not enough water for them to swim so they had to paddle before flying off up the valley.

Sunny Vale had 2 little grebe, 4 moorhen and 6 mallard. Also 1 heron.



LT tit, great tit, blue tit and coal tit. 1 treecreeper and 2 Jay.



Coach Road, Brighouse pm

A short walk from Hove Edge to Lightcliffe was really productive in the good light this afternoon: a G S Woodpecker drumming, a Jay, 2 Nuthatches together right next to the track, Kestrel overhead, 3 Song Thrushes singing, 10 Redwings moving through the bushes and a pair of Bullfinches, as well as the usual Great Tits, L T Tits, Blue Tits and Chaffinches.

waterbird wonderland

a lovly walk round ogden this frosty morning.
1 pochard on the resovoir
1 tufted duck with the pochard
2 male goldeneyes and different points on the res
the grebe showed well without the cuts and bruises
1 long tailed tit in the car park
8 canada geese at the feeding area
numerous robins on the walls

a good day, too bad i forgot the key so all the stuff mentioned is not on the recent sightings bird board at ogden

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Walks Yesterday & Today

Saturday am



Crow Hill, Waterstalls Road, Coppy Nook & Blackwood Common



Big numbers of corvids at Crow Hill, paticularly rooks. I suppose the clue is in the name.

8 meadow pipits in field below Crow Hill trig point.



Blackwood Common. Flushed 6 linnets. 3f, 3m. Two skylarks tangling in field below Blackwood Common.



Otherwise usual species.



Sunday am



Burlees Wood, Cock Hill, Wadsworth Banks



Male gs woodpecker in Burlees Wood. Flushed female sparrowhawk from bush above Burlees Wood.



Male peregrine flying over Cock Hill towards Midgley Moor.



Wadsworth Banks. Green woodpecker calling.



Plus usual stuff.



Cracking weather.

Walk Ogden Water to Thornton Moor and back

A magnificent sunny day on the moors. Several groups of grouse heard and one group seen. Nine goldeneye on Thornton Moor reservoir four male and five female togethor with circa fifty black headed gulls. The first curlew of the year circled before nearly landing on a sheep but no calls. A female kestrel perched on a ruined farm building. In addition several crows and magpies togethor with a small flock of jackdaws.

Well done Andy!




Well done to Andy Cockroft who this morning successfully completed a very tough 10km run over a hilly route to raise over £200 for our Malta Optics appeal,and in an hour! The total raised is now just over £700 plus lots of donated optics, very many thanks to all who have helped in any way. Click on pictures for a larger image.

Jumble Hole

c65 pink footed geese just flown over > west (10:50am)

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Friday 8th Feb Gaddings Dam, Langfield Common etc

Started off at pond above Longfield



13 Lapwing.



1 pink-footed goose flew in. Not present when I returned c.2hrs later.



Walk up to Gaddings Dam



Wet. 1 male stonechat on dry stone wall.



Gaddings



Bracing. Howling wind. Water lapping over the dam side. Serious windchill.



3 goldeneye. 2f, 1m. Rock hard ducks.



Langfield Common



Getting easier.



3 carrion crows.



5 meadow pipits.



Lumbutts



Positively balmy.



8 redwing close to Methodist church.



Then back to the pond above Longfield..............

ringstone

went up for an hour this morning. the midges are back to their usual selfs.
50 ish lapwings flying up and about
3 skylarks in full song
numerous starlings
80 ish pinkfeet flying parralel, but further away than, ringstone
hundreds of gulls
7 jackdaws

a good day considing that i have seen my first pinkfeet ever

Grapevine

Thanks to all those who have paid so promptly, just four of the current members outstanding, anybody new wanting to join please get in touch.

Two Ravens in Midgley atlas tetrad this morning plus returning Skylark over the moor.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Sunnyvale Lake

2 f. pochard reported on Calderdale Wildlife Network as being there yesterday, but no sign today.

Various sites

Bradley Hall Farm - no sign of any Yellowhammers this morning - unfortunately!
Jay House Lane - 3+ Tree Sparrows and c18 Greenfinch.
NK reported a Snow Bunting at Soil Hill at 14.45 but not yet relocated.

ogden




great crested grebe showed well this morning. the brambles are vicious so these shots were the best i could get. however still endured much pain to get them. the canada geese have returned about 7 i counted. also i coal tit and 3 great tits on the feeders

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Todmorden: The Pond above Longfield had 5 Goldeneye this evening, the two males were displaying, slightly half heartedly, watched by 20 or so Lapwings hunkered down around the far edge.

Ogden/Ovenden Moor

We did some BTO Atlas survey work today Ovenden Moor -The Withens/windfarm and the golf course - managed just 11 species of birds in 2 hrs - hard work !

Outside the survey area Ogden still has the Great Crested Grebe along with 7 Canada Geese, 220 B H Gulls, 35 Common Gulls.

Away from the res'r a Tawny Owl was singing at 14.30 in the woods leading to Skirden Clough. Also 1 female Sparrowhawk over and a Jay.

In Ogden Lane just off Keighley Road there were 44 Goldfinch.

Hardcastle Crags Yesterday etc

Hardcastle Crags

A quick visit yesterday am.

4 nuthatches. 3 near the car park and one near Gibson Mill. First time I've seen one in the latter location.

1 treecreeper.

2 gs woodpecker-1 m & 1f.

1 greenwoodpecker heard but not seen.

6 goldcrests close to the main track to Gibson Mill.

Little grebe still on the top pond beyond the mill.

Dipper c.half a mile beyond Gibson Mill.

Numerous long tailed tits.

Plus usual species.

Jerusalem Farm/Luddenden Dean

A quick visit yesterday pm

Extended good views of a dipper around the altered pond/dam area. It caught two fish which it struggled to swallow.

Numerous gs woodpecker calls but only fleeting glimpses of two.

Plus usual species.

Et duo homines avis antiquus, Derek et Stuart.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

THE FUTURE

Following on from last nights committee meeting I have pledged to head up a steering group which will design a website which Andrew Crystal will then kindly develop for us.

Anyone with who wants to get involved or has any strong opinions regarding what they do or do not want from the website should either leave comments here or email me direct. I will be planning a meeting in the very near future to get things off the ground.

Cromwell Bottom Feeding Station

Morning all
I went down to CB this morning laden down with food as usual to top up the peanut feeders and place seed in the feeding station I have built up over the winter along the fence line between the river and Tag Loop at Cromwell Bottom. I topped up the peanut feeders on Tag and again had Green Woodpecker feeding under them. When I got to the feeding station along the fence lineI discovered to my horror that someone (I assume the Countryside Unit ?) has cut back the entire hedgerow along the fence leaving a long line of bean pole hawthorns and no shelter for the huge number of birds that had built up in the hedge over the winter.

When I went down yesterday to put out the food I counted 20+Bullfinches, 10+Goldfinch, a large mixed flock of Chaffinch & Greenfinch at least 40 strong, large numbers of tits, at least four Reed Buntings, Blackbirds , Robins and a hen Pheasant. This morning, after the clearance yesterday, I counted 3 great tits, a blackbird and a single robin along the whole line. Whoever did this has even chucked the trimmings under the remains of the trees and blocked off the clear feeding areas I have made to scatter seed when the wind/weather was bad.Thanks are due to which ever idiot in Calderdale authorised this work which has spoilt a whole winters feeding regime trying to build up bird numbers and species in this area. I am almost certain I had the first Yellowhammer at Cromwell Bottom in over two years at this hedgerow last week, so whoever did this has probable scuppered my chances of confirming the record, thanks once again :-((

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Hardcastle Crags

Treecreeper and Nuthatch around the crags Midgeholme car park this morning.

New bird for me in the crags ! was 1 Little Grebe on the top pond at Gibson Mill. Also a Dipper there (first for the year - have struggled to find any in Luddenden Dean or Ogden) and 1 Grey Heron.
The bird feeders by Gibson Mill were busy with small birds ie.. 20+ Blue Tits, 10 + Great Tits and at least 8 Coal Tits with some Long-tailed Tits around as well.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Garden Feeders Update

The garden feeders are now a massive draw locally for local birds. I am now having to top up two medium seed feeders twice daily. I reckon I am getting through 2/3 kilos of peanuts and around 6/7 kilos of feeder seed a week. The feeders are occupied from dawn till dusk by a huge army of Blue, Great and Coal Tits. Last and first birds showing are Blackbirds are Robins which are usually still feeding after dusk and before first light in the morning.

I have two regular Robins in the garden which I assume are a pair. I did have three regular cock blackbirds but I think I am now down to just one individual. There were also three females, now sadly down to two since one got snaffled by a Sparrowhawk.I get the occasional Greenfinch on the peanut feeders, a Pair of Chaffinches are regulars just over the back garden wall in the woodland. I have been surprised that the Chaffies will not come into the garden to feed on the ground or the seed feeders. Nice surprise last week was a beautiful male siskin feeding on the usualy redudant nyjer feeder. A couple of Dunnock are around on and off most of day hopping around under the feeders looking for fallen seeds. I have been surprised that I have not had a single Wren or Long Tailed Tit down. Maybe as the weather has been very mild they have not been desperate enough.

Lesser Spotted pecker is a very infrequent visitor but Greater peckers are feeding on and off most of the day. Strangely enough although I think they are a pair they never feed together, its either the male or the female but never both together.Nuthatches are around most of the afternoon, only occasionally do they visit before lunchtime. They rarely use the feeders, much preferring to gather a beakful of broken peanuts or sunflower seeds before flying back into the wood to eat them. I know there are at least three indvidual Nutchatch coming to the garden, two males seen together but I have never seen more then one female at a time.

Sparrowhawks have obviously noticed the huge numbers of birds around and there is at least one attack daily. I have deliberately left the buddleia bushes uncut to provide a hiding place close to the feeders for the birds to fly to when the hawk comes in. I have only seen one successful attack by a Sparrowhawk on the unfortunate female Blackbird. Just watched another failed attack before I wrote this post. A female came in at great speed along the back gardens but the Tits obviously spotted it early as they were away before she even came over the garden. I watched one attack on Saturday morning where the Tits were not so alert and the hawk was almost amongst them before they spotted her. She just missed one Blue Tit on the seed feeders and almost grabbed a Great Tit as it fled into the buddleia. Its astonishing just how quick and manoeuvrable a Sparrowhawk is when hunting, its literally all over in the blink of an eye and it might have had a go at two birds in that time, absolutely amazing to watch.

Old "white wing" the cock Robin has obviously forgiven me for winding him up with the CD calls this morning as hes just popped down and taken the last few mealworms I had left from a dish in my hand. No joy with attracting Lesser Pecker down, although Great Spotted came and fed on the peanuts whilst the CD was playing and simply ignored the Lesser Pecker drumming which sound very similar to its own drumming to my ear. I am very pleased with the feeding station and its given Sue and I great enjoyment as well as boosting local birds through the winter, the only downside is the fact that I can never get enough work done when I keep getting up to look through the office window at whats happening !

Jumble Hole

3 ravens over this morning, duelling (can three birds duel???!)

Still good numbers of jackdaws whirling in the winds.

Still a little party of 10 siskins kicking around.

Bird Calls

After a suggestion by Sean & Andy, I have been playing around with a bird call CD in my back garden. The idea was to try and call in Lesser Spotted Peckers, no luck yet with this species but several other have responded well.The resident cock Robin was most upset to hear a rival singing from his garden, and even more upset when he couldn't spot it ! I have so far had Robin, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Great Tit come to investigate the calls. No joy yet with Lesser Spotted but I have the CD looped on Lesser Pecker drumming running on a CD player in the back garden so we will see if I have any joy later. More reports to follow later when I have got some work done instead of peering out the office window to see what arrives next at the CD player !

Sunday, February 03, 2008

long-tailed tits


woke this morning to find these on my feeder not seen so many at once in my garden, a quick photo through the window

Proposed Schedule 4 revision - action needed!

The following posting has been put together by Alastair Forsyth in response to the proposal to make changes to Schedule 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside act, I really cannot add anything to it. I intend to bring this matter up at the next CBCG meeting (Tuesday) and if agreed write on behalf of the Group, having said that the case against these amendments can only be strengthened by as many people as possible voicing their concerns, please help!

Many thanks to Alastair for setting this up.

Proposed revision of Schedule 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
The Department for the Environment (DEFRA) are proposing to revise Schedule 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (lists birds which must be registered and ringed if kept in captivity). They intend to reduce the number of species listed from 46 to just 7. Crucially they intend to remove Peregrine from the list. Peregrine is highly susceptible to criminality, not only from the shooting lobby but also from some disreputable falconers. The species has a high monetary value. Please write to Joan Ruddock the minister of state responsible and ask her to reconsider. I have written a letter which you are welcome to use, preferably to adapt. Click here for the letter.Joan Ruddock's email address is ruddockj@parliament.ukIt is important to include your name and address in the email even if you request reply by email.Thanks in advance for your support.

Oats Royd/Soil Hill

One of several ponds at Oats Royd
03/02/2008. Cold SW >5 . a.m.
OATS ROYD
8 Siskins
1 Redpoll
1 Heron
5 Moorhen
1 Sparrowhawk
3 Roe Deer

SOIL HILL Cold SSE >5 Dry 1500-1545hrs
No birds on top of hill
5 Goldfinch on teasels
1 Skylark
Nice to meet a wind blown sedrake and his good lady on the hill.
BS
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, February 02, 2008

ogden

1 grey wagtail flew over the resovoir this morning. didnt see where it went. by the way robin the ogden water warden(s) has given me the key for the sightings board. if it would be possible could anybody please inform me of any ogden birds.

thank you

Luddenden Dean


Luddenden Dean - looking down the valley towards the Calder Valley from Castle Carr Road.

Lee Mount

1 Skylark over this morning >NW and also Redpoll heard going over.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker in the garden feeding on black sunflower seed was a nice surprise.

Castle Carr Road

1 Stonechat just past Bridge Terrace this afternoon. Also 6 or more Lapwings in the fields.
Lower down and into Luddenden Dean - another Stonechat, 16 Fieldfares, a Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.
Great Spotted Woodpecker by the lower lodge and lots of tits, c30 Chaffinch and c12 Greenfinch nearby at a garden feeder.
Also in the dean were 18 Goldfinch, a Song Thrush, 23 Magpies together and near Saltonstall c75 Jackdaws and c55 Rooks.

HIGH ROYD 14:45 - 15:30

1 Little Grebe
c10 Meadow Pipits
7 Pied Wagtails
18 Redwing
4 Moorhen
2 Coot
c20 Teal
c15 Mallard

Friday, February 01, 2008

Ogden and Mixenden Res'rs

Ogden - Great Crested Grebe still there - and 1 Goldcrest!
Brockholes and Stodfold (below the golf course) - 6 Grey Partridge, 15 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 63 Starlings, 72 Jackdaws and 68 Rooks.

Mixenden Res'r - c250 B H Gulls and c60 Common Gulls on the res'r with 3 Great Black-backs and 6 Herring Gulls heading west over the res'r towards Mount Tabor.

Waxwings - out of area

There's waxwings in Burnley and Batley today, so might be worth checking the usual spots in Calderdale if anyone is passing.