Friday, October 31, 2008

Clifton Beck to Jay House Lane

Kingfisher by the beck
Kestrel just behind Bradford Road
20 Long Tailed Tits in the wood
30 Redwings going towards Jay House Lane, but only a couple of Fieldfares
6 Mistle Thrush
2 Pied Wagtails by the muck stack
Slightly different ratio of Lapwings to Golden Plover, today Muxy, with approx 200 Lapwings and nearly 250 Golden Plovers. They made a really impressive sight in one large,mixed flock, which became even more dramatic as a female Sparrowhawk put the lot up !

Old Town 1.15

Winter Thrushes(Mainly Fieldfare)-C200 feeding in fields between Old Town & Dodnaze

Upper Crimsworth Dean 12.30

1 Common Buzzard trying to avoid the attentions of a crow
1 F Kestrel
1 M Kestrel
1 F Pheasant
1 M Pheasant

Thursday, October 30, 2008

FRIDAY NIGHT

The joint celebration of Nick and Matt's birthdays will now take place in Hebden Bridge. Starting at 8pm in Moyles.

Thanks to all those who responded.

See you there.

Andrew

Red Kite

Red Kite reported by Brian Sumner - 1 seen over Queensbury at 8.30 this morning heading south could have gone down towards Shelf/ Shibden?

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

THIS FRIDAY

I'm sure you've all seen the posting on the blog re a get together for Nick and Matt's birthdays, due to no positive response from anyone saying that they will be attending I'm posting this as a final request. Can you please let me know if you will be attending, if no response is received then the venue maybe moved to near his home or worse still cancelled altogether.

I am aware some of you have prior arrangements but can the rest please give me some indication of your intention to either attend or not by this time tomorrow evening.

Given the amount of time that both of them give to the group I'm sure we can all either take the time to add a comment, email me andrewhuyton@hotmail.com or text me if you have my number that is.


Many thanks



Andrew

Widdop Rd

A couple of hours walking up the road today produced:-

2 Common Buzzard
1 Male Kestrel
45 Fieldfare
7 Redwing
2 Mistle Thrush
2 min Goldcrest
2 GSW
1 GW (heard only)

+ usual tits,blackbirds,dunnocks

Plovers - Jay House Lane

The Plover flock of c300 this morning contained plenty of Golden Plovers as well as Lapwings, prob ratio of 3:1 in favour of Lapwings. If the Golden were there yesterday I didn't notice them.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ringstone Edge Res'r

1 hr this afternoon
1 (f) Goldeneye
1 Snipe
10 Golden Plover
12 Lapwings
220+ B H Gulls, 80+ Common Gulls, 2 juv Herring Gull (types)!
1 Stonechat
1 Reed Bunting
2 Meadow Pipits
1 Pied Wagtail

70 Fieldfare >NW over Barkisland and another c60 >E over the Ryburn Valley

Luddenden Dean

Wade Wood this afternoon from Jerusalem Farm.

c40 Pink-footed Geese >E high over the Calder Valley at 11.15 am

c42 Redwing
c120 Fieldfare
24 Blackbirds
1 Song Thrush
7 Mistle Thrushes
8 Jays
1 Little Owl
4 Kestrels
2 Green Woodpeckers
Reasonable numbers of Blue, Great, Coal, L T Tits and Goldcrests

2 Stonechats (on Castle Carr Road)

Green Withens area - am

Female Goosander on the water
27 Pinkfeet going SW about 11.00
A single Fieldfare by the reservoir wall
2 Stonechats further out on the moor
Kestrel
2/3 Meadow Pipits

Otherwise, pretty quiet.

Jay House Lane - This a.m.

2 min stop going to work:-

200+ Lapwings
6 Mistle Thrushes
4 Pied Wagtails
1 Kestrel
12+ Starlings
12 + Mipits (I think, any tips on confirming little brown bird types would be welcomed)

Then just out of our area 3 Cormorants over and 1 Heron.
I didn't think that was bad for a drive to work.

Are the Tree Sparrows there all year and where is the best place to look?

Monday, October 27, 2008

Ogden

4 f Goosander this afternoon
1 Little Grebe
1 Green Woodpecker
2 Red Grouse by 'Giants Tooth'
1 Treecreeper
c12 L T Tits
c12 Goldcrest
2 Kestrels
1 Collared Dove

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Website & BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Ok lets get the business end done, many thanks again to those attending the meeting regarding the website last week. Especially to Dishfish and Jane who joined us for the first time great to get your take on things. The outcome from the meeting is that we have settled on the lay out of the site and we will be approaching a firm in Sowerby Bridge to get estimates and timescales before making any final decisions.

NOW as previously mentioned this Friday 31st October we are planning on having a get together to celebrate Nick Carters and Matt Bells recent/upcoming birthdays. This is start at The Works in Sowerby Bridge at 8pm before moving onto The Puzzle to take in some live music.

I'm sure alot of you who have known Matt and Nick for many years would like to join us to help them Celebrate.

I would welcome RSVP's either posted here or if you want your attendance to remain a surprise then please email me at andrewhuyton@hotmail.com

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Scammonden

400+ flock of mainly Fieldfare with a few Redwing + Starlings this afternoon, feeding in fields opposite & above Brown Cow.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Ogden

3 f Goosanders still there
1 Reed Bunting on the golf course fringes

Fly Flats

1 Raven over this afternoon
1 Stonechat by the wind farm car park

No Twite - and the area of the feeding station is taken over by contractors vehicles etc at the moment as they carry out some work on the res'r bankings. Seed put down nearby but think we might be very fortunate if we see any Twite there now until the spring(????)

My First Calderdale Buzzards

Despite having seen many before in other areas it still gave me a thrill to see my first ever Buzzards in Calderdale:-

2 over upper Crimsworth Dean

Also 3 Kestrels at various points between Fly Flatts and weather station, I know it has been said before but there seems to be loads about.

Now in the next few months I'm hoping for my first Merlin!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ryburn and Baitings Res'rs

Ryburn - 1 Cormorant there this afternoon

Baitings - 6 (f) Goosander

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Booth Wood Res'r

1 Cormorant there today - likes the stone gate-post sticking up out of the water on the far side!

Spiders

A non-bird question, but does anyone know who our friendly neighbourhood spider man is? I have a couple of ID questions

Website

Following a recent meeting with regard to the possibility of setting up a Halifax Birders website there will be a follow up get together to take this further, we are meeting at 8pm in the Shoulder of Mutton in Mytholmroyd tomorrow evening, all welcome.

News from North Wales

Hi all
As not much seems to be happening around Calderdale at the moment, I thought I would post an update on the bird life we have around my new home on the Llyn Peninsular in N Wales since we moved in July.To someone like myself who is only a novice bird watcher its been a real eye opener moving here due to the sheer numbers and variety of birds seen. Most days we get Ravens and Choughs passing over the van on their journeys to and from the mountains to the coast and back. Often we will not see the birds but note their calls as they pass. Although its usual to see Merlin, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, and Peregrines on most walks along the coast its very rare we see any raptors near the caravan site. We do have a rather spectacular Jackdaw roost at the bottom of the site in some large conifers. Its an amazing sight to watch the birds displaying in their hundreds as they come in to roost at dusk. they spend a long time settling down for the night and its not unusual for them to be flying around displaying long after the sun has set.

Cycling round the peninsular at the moment really brings it home to you just how rich the bird life is around the area. Many of the local farmers (its all small scale mixed family farms here) have grown maize this year, not as I thought as bio-fuel but as a food crop for sheep and cattle as bought in food is very expensive. This maize crop has just been harvested and the stubble fields are full of finches. Its not unusual to see seperate flocks of over a couple of hundred Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches and often there are many flocks together numbering hundreds of birds. Its hardly surprising that raptors are common around here ! Any cycle ride on a sunny day will have anything up to 20 Buzzards spotted as we cycle round the coast. We have large colonies of Sand Martins all along the coast and the Merlins hang around outside the nest sites trying to catch them. Swallows and House Martins seem to breed on most farms and other out buildings, The last flock I saw was last week as they headed off back SE behind the van. I have not seen any Tree Sparrows yet but House Sparrows are around in massive numbers on all the farms.

I have a feeding station set up at the back of the van around 6 feet from my office window. Its the same station I had in Calderdale but the difference in birds is remarkable. As my back garden in Calderdale backed onto Park Wood most visitors were of the Tit family and Blackbirds. Here the bulk of the visitors are finches. Chaffinches predominate along with Greenfinch and Goldfinch. I have a pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers down every day on the nut feeders. There is also a pair of Nuthatch with an occasional foray by other Nuthatches until the resident pair spot them and drive them off. As I sit typing this I have a flock of Chaffinches feeding on the floor under the feeder, 2 Nuthatches feeding on the peanuts, a Goldfinch hanging on a nut feeder (weird this as Goldfinches seem to prefer the nut feeders to the seed feeders ?) and two Coal tits searching for Sunflower seeds the Nuthatches keep hiding in the ivy on a tree trunk just behind the feeder. Thrush and Blackbird are noticeable by their absence at the station even though they are around in huge numbers all along any lane you walk. One thing I have also noticed is that the birds are far less likely to fly off if they spot movement through the window. I could almost reach out and touch the birds on the feeders but as long as I don't move around too much they ignore me and carry on feeding. Just behind the feeding station is a low banking/hedge, called a Clouth around here, just over that is a small field in which one of the local farmers keeps small flock of sheep (they seem to lamb the whole year round here). Its very entertaining every morning when the sheep and lambs are let back into the field as a small number of Jackdaws, Magpies and Ravens suddenly appear and start to move amongst the sheep flock looking for disturbed insects. Quite often most of the adult sheep have at least one passenger corvid keeping an eye out for insects from its woolly vantage point.

I have not really had the time to do much sea watching as yet due to settling into the van and my book business is still busy despite the downturn. We enjoyed watching Gannets plunge feeding only a few yards offshore as we walked along Nefyn beach in the summer. Most days the Gannets were feeding we also saw Common Tern feeding as well. At least one pair of Ringed Plover bred on Nefyn beach and we think they got at least one youngster safely reared. hopefully in winter we will get some time to go bird watching along the shore (its around 20mins walking from the van).

We have so much wildlife here its almost like a David Attenborough film compared to Calderdale ! Sue and I do not regret for one minute leaving Calderdale, although we do miss the many friends we made in the area. Judging by the amount of tweeters I have spotted, I dread to think just what a proper bird watcher would have seen that we have missed ! Our star spot so far was the Osprey perched on a fench post at the edge of a road some weeks back. My fav birds are Ravens (we save chicken carcases and take them up Garn Fadryn to feed the resident Ravens), but I spend far more time than I ought to simply gazing out of the office window watching the bird behaviour on the feeding station.

If any of you are ever in the area please feel free to drop in for a cuppa and some grub and you can point out all the things Sue and I have missed :-))

PS I mentioned the lack of Raptors earlier, just had a male Sparrowhawk take a chaffy from the shed roof 12 feet away from my window, amazing !

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Ryburn Res'r

An unconfirmed report of a possible female Long-tailed Duck has come in this evening from MC via NCD. The bird was seen to fly in near dusk heading towards the top end of the res'r. Sean Gray is going up in the morning to check/confirm or otherwise.

Ogden Water

A quick walk round this pm revealed circa 100 black headed gulls circa 50 mallard and 3 goosander[f]. 1 jay flew over.

Crimsworth Dean (upper)

2 Common Buzzards at a distance
c 6 Kestrels
6 Red-legged Partridges
c30 Meadow Pipits
No winter thrushes - wonder if, after the influx last weekend, they nearly all carried on going west. Crimsworth Dean is usually a really good area for them.

Shibden Park 8am

27 canada geese
1 PF goose
2 moorhen
2 pied wagtail
1 jay
mallards and corvids

Monday, October 20, 2008

school :(

4 goldfinches flew over the school playing feild today
lots of gulls too
people acted as though they were terrorists :/

Ogden

Everything seemed to be keeping away out of the wind today.
3 f Goosander
1 Green Woodpecker
c10 L T Tits
8 Goldcrests

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Posting

In the last 24 hours we've had 271 views of the blog, and two people posting sightings. I'm not sure if that means no-one has seen any birds in Calderdale, or people can't / won't blog the sightings, or something else. Please keep putting records on here, otherwise there's simply nothing to look at.
Many thanks.

manor heath

pied wagtails on manor heath this morning
about 10 in 1 area

also a kestrel in bradshaw on friday

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Pink feet - Jumble Hole




77 pink feet west at 12:45pm

Winter thrushes - Jumble Hole / Badger Lane area




I was only out for just over an hour this morning, but large movement of thrushes. Some redwing were in bushes feeding, but most were streaming past in flocks from 3 to 120. All seemed to be coming from the direction of the Crimsworth Dean valley, passing over Heptenstall and heading for Todmorden.

- 800+ redwing
- 90 fieldfare (one group of 5, one of 85)
- 1 goldcrest
- 1 kestrel
- 1 raven
- 3 jay

Friday, October 17, 2008

Winter Thrushes

Apparently thousands of thrushes coming in at Spurn this morning heading over high going west. Many of these could end up in our area either overnight or in the next day or so. Redwings have been around in our area for a couple of weeks now in small numbers.

Nick Dawtrey reported c40 Redwings over Roils head this afternoon going west. c30 were around Shroggs Park this morning and others as already reported in Luddenden Dean were feeding on hawthorn berries. Redwings were also heard going over Southowram at 9.30 pm tonight. Plenty Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes also around but no reports of Fieldfares yet as far as I am aware (?)

Luddenden Dean


View of the upper end of the dean this afternoon looking towards the Castle Carr estate.
1 Green Woodpecker
c40 Redwings
Jays seem to be all over the place in the oak woodland after the acorns

Midgley Moor



Pink footed Geese (part of the flock) over the Calder Valley from Midgley Moor at 1 pm today heading west. Perhaps the same flock Matt saw a few minutes later. I overestimated at c200! Digital photography even at a distance confirmed the flock we saw from here was close on 147 birds.

Also present on the moor c40 Meadow Pipits, 1 Skylark and c6 Red Grouse heard and 1 Snipe.

Pink feet - Jumble Hole. 1:10pm




About 180 over in total, heading west again. Presumably the same flock Dave S had over Midgley

BIGVis-mig! Sunday 19th October 2008, 0700 – 1000hr

BIGVis-Mig! Methodology.
BASIC METHODOLOGY…… very simple!

Anyone in the UK can take part. The more contributions and the wider the spread the better.
The "counting period" is as stated above, if you wish to go on longer than 1000hr then do so but keep this supplimentary total outside the "counting period" separate.

Count each species in increments of 15 minutes starting at 0700hr ie incremental periods for us all will be:

0700 – 0715hr
0715 – 0730hr
0730 – 0715hr
and so on……

This incremental counting will enable immediate comparison of results between each site.
Identify and count all of the moving birds you see or hear at any distance using bins, scope or unaided vision and note their main or various directions of movement.

Record basic weather as we are all in the habit of doing, specifically noting any factors you may think are affecting the movement of birds.

If possible take a few digital photos of your outlook / counting conditions.

Write your basic report as we are all in the habit of doing but including both incremental totals and grand totals for each species. Finally simply attach a couple of your digital photos and email all to the VisMig Group as you would normally do for all to see.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fly Flats

6.0 C, windy and wet there this afternoon!
5 Twite
2 Red Grouse
1 Meadow Pipit
1 Pied Wagtail
1 Kestrel
1 Sparrowhawk
2 Stonechats by the boat-house plus another 4 in the field at the back of the Withens

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Website and Celebrations

First of all a big thank you to Tim Walker, Nick Carter and steve Downing for attending the meeting regarding the website last night also to those who passed on comments who were unable to make it.

I will be emailing Andy Crystal shortly with our requirements.

NOW the really important stuff.

As most of you are aware our Chairman Nick "Grasshopper" Carter is turning 50, what some of you may not be aware is that within weeks of this Matt "Ding Dong" Bell turns 40.

In order to help celebrate these 2 momentous events we have agreed to have a night of high spirits fueled by alcohol and live music.

You are all therefore invited to attend the birthday celebrations to be held on Friday 31st October commencing at 8pm at The Works in Sowerby Bridge before moving onto The Puzzle (also in Sowerby Bridge) for the live music and of course more of the high spirits.

I would welcome an RSVP from everyone so that we have an idea of the numbers to expect.

It is sure to be a great night and it would be fantastic if as many of you as possible are able to come along and help our friends celebrate.

Back to the dull stuff, I'll keep you all posted on the progress of the website as soon as there is any news.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Longfield Dam

8 tufted duck still there
8 mallard
17 pied wagtails, 15 meadow pipits and c. 55 canada geese in the field next to the dam.

Always a good place to stop if you're passing - and you can bird from the car!

Brighouse canal and river

4 Canada Geese and 2 Grey Wagtails on the canal behind Sainsburys.

12 Canada Geese and 1 Little Grebe on river.

29 more Canada Geese feeding in field opposite Granny Lock.

Ogden

2 Little Grebes and 2 f Goosanders still there this afternoon
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
21 Robins
14 Goldcrests
1 Skylark and 1 Meadow Pipit over the 'giants tooth'

Monday, October 13, 2008

Ogden

2 Little Grebes still there but they can be elusive in the edge of the vegetation
2 female Goosanders
6 L B B G's through >SW
1 Peregrine over from Soil Hill headed off towards Mixenden at 2.40 pm
1 Meadow Pipit!

Pink feet

240 pink footed geese just flew west over Jumble Hole (11:50am).

Lumbutts area - Sunday

8 tufted duck on Longfield Dam
1 linnet on the moor behind The Shepherds Rest.
1 common frog well up on the moor.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Sunday at the hide

A female Pintail was a nice find from the hide at Ringstone late this afternoon. Only 5 GP. 40 Lapwing. 3 Goosander etc. Little Owl at Norland.

Fly Flats

DJS and NCD this afternoon
11 Twite at the feeding station
6 Stonechats (near the sailing club)
1 Kestrel
1 Mallard and 5 B H Gulls

Cold Edge - Sun Morn

3 Kestrels
1 Heron over > W
30+ M. Pipits
4 Red Grouse
1 Tufted
Mallards

A mate has reported two returning Nuthatches to his garden at Wood End Close, Skircoat Green over the weekend - he has never seen them before.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Shibden and Sunny Vale - Saturday AM

It's been a while since the last time I checked out Sunny Vale so I took a trip out that way this morning.

Shibden Park:
4 house martins
4 moorhen
23 canada geese
1 pink footed goose - might be the same one that appeared here last year
100+ mallard
8 BH gull

Sunny Vale:
2 moorhen
8 BH gull
3 grey heron
10 mallard
4 jay
LTT, robin, wren, goldcrest
1 grey wagtail

Track back:
12 redwing feeding on hawthorns
4 blackbirds
6 goldfinch
4 chaffinch
1 goldcrest having a bath in a pool at the side of the track

Birding magazines etc

Whilst having an annual clear out at home I have decided to part company with many old birding magazines that are gathering dust. There are old Birding World, British Birds, Yorkshire Birding and some British Wildlife magazines. Most of these are quite old and may be of value to a collector, anyone interested please let me know.

Shelf Roundabout

2 House Martin 10th October

Hardcastle Crags/Walshaw etc

10th October - Middle and top Walshaw res'rs from Wadsworth Moor
We did 10 miles or so from the crags car park and up over Wadsworth Moor to top Walshaw and back via Blake Dean. Birds were thin on the ground with a very strong wind making birding difficult.
28+ Red Grouse
2 Ravens and 1 Common Buzzard over high
c20 Goldcrests in the crags
3 Stonechats at middle Walshaw res'r
7 Meadow Pipits for the day (all keeping out of the wind)
1 Grey Heron
c6 Kestrels and that was about it

Friday, October 10, 2008

Ogden Fri am

Didn't see any Grebes
1 Kestrel
1 Grey Wagtail
1 Goosander
1 Treecreeper
Plus many tits, BHG's and Corvids

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Ogden

This afternoon
2 Little Grebes
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Grey Wagtail
15 Long-tailed Tits

1 Dipper below the golf course
1 Stonechat
1 Snipe in the fields below Hunter Hill

Lee Mount

c30 Redwings and c30 Chaffinch through over Shroggs Park >W at 8.0 am
4 Swallows >SE at 9.30 am

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Ogden

5 Redwings through Ogden Clough >SW late morning

House Martins still nesting

Yesterday, Monday,
well grown young still in nest and three flying birds at Bowers Mill, Barkisland.
This is on Branch Rd. Great cafe there, good food and cheap, unfortunately not open weekends.

Bats.
Someone mentioned bats recently. If anyone is interested, Hugh Firman, Chair of the Yorkshire Bat Group, and Chief Conservation Officer for Calderdale, is giving this month's talk with powerpoint presentation at Halifax Scientific Society. His title is "Bat Conservation in West Yorkshire and what we can do to help them". Open to the public, 7.00 for 7.15, downstairs at Halifax Central Library, Northgate.
Next Tuesday, 14th October.

Northowram today

1 House martin south
Rishworth, Moselden.
Adult M Merlin hunting mipits.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Fly Flats/Withens Gap/Cold Edge

Twite at Fly Flats feeding station this afternoon
Cold Edge
1 Stonechat

Withens Gap
2 Wheatears
2 Stonechats

Fly Flats
1 Peregrine
1 Wheatear
15 Twite

Castle Carr Road
12 L T Tits and 2 Stonechats

Monday morning Northowram

8 Swallows south
7 Redwing in Only House wood
1 Nuthatch
10 Lt Tit

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Shibden Valley/Swalesmoor

Shibden Valley (upper)
12+ Swallows still around Scout Hall and nearby farm buildings this afternoon
2 Sparrowhawks and at least 3 Kestrels


Swalesmoor - 18 Linnets

Rishworth Moor

Green Withens - Oxygrains.
5 Whinchat
8 Stonechat
1 Grey Wag
1Dipper
1 Peregrine Juv.
24 Reed Bunting
7 Mipits
2 Red Grouse

Boothwood Reservoir.
5 Wigeon
1 Cormorant
2 Peregrine
8 Twite
6 LBBG >W

Ringstone.
10 Goosander
5 Wigeon (probably the ones I put up from Boothwood)
2 Teal
1 Merlin M
8 Mallard
3 Snipe
40+ Lapwing
30+ BHGull
1 Grey Heron
2 Pied Wag
15 Goldfinch
1 House Sparrow

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Fly Flats/Ogden

Fly Flats
3.0C this morning up there and horizontal rain - drew a blank!

1 Wheatear still in the fields opposite the wind-farm car park

Ogden
1 Blackcap (fem)
1 Dipper in the stream leading down to the golf course
No G C Grebe today!

Pink-foot at EGP 041008


1 Pink-foot associating with 28 Canadas this morning after the influx last Sunday. Other birds of note:
16 Tufted Duck
1 Great Crested Grebe
2 Cormorant
2 Grey Heron
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Kestrel
3 Common Gull
1 LBB Gull
Notable SW movement of 200+ Woodpigeon
20 House Martin still around
1 Pied Wag
1 Grey Wag
1 Chiffchaff singing sporadically
1 Lesser Redpoll over

Friday, October 03, 2008

Cromwell Bottom area

3 female Goosanders and a Cormorant on the river.
12 Mallard on the canal.
A Little Grebe on the lagoon.
Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, 3 Common Gulls and c 100 B H Gulls on the lake.

Back home, the Coal Tits were busy hoarding sunflower seeds in the rockery and the small garden wall !

Ringstone Edge Res'r

Called in across lunch time today
3 Swallows through >SW
1 Cormorant
2 G C Grebes
7 L B B Gulls >NE

Thursday, October 02, 2008

General Observations

I've noticed a lot of jays the past week or so on my commute through Shibden Park into Halifax. At one point there were 6 "singing" in one tree. Also great spotted and green woodpeckers flying around.

The tawny owls are also pretty active at the moment.

The hawthorns in the valley have a good crop of berries on them as do the rowans in Sainsbury's car park and the streets around.

I thought the house martins had left our street but there were 3 flying around this teatime.

1 chiffchaff singing at the weekend.

A bit of a Heron Day

Driving around with work today

River Ryburn, rear of West St Mills, S/B - 1 Grey Heron flying low over river. 2 Dippers. 1 Grey Wagtail Flock of mxd Tits
(This is quite a good spot so close to S/B Centre - always Dipper & Grey Wagtail, Tits etc. Sometimes Kingfisher & Heron. I've also seen Daubentons Bats here in the evening. Unfortunately I've also seen Mink here)

New Mill Dam, Todmorden - 1 Grey Heron

Eastwood - 1 Grey Heron flying east along Halifax Rd

Ogden/Fly Flats

Ogden
2 juv Swallows >S over Syke Lane at 10 am (also 2 juvs through by Mixenden Res'r at 2.30 pm)
1 Grey and 2 Pied Wagtails
1 Green and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
13 + Robins and 12 + Goldcrests
1 Treecreeper
1 L B B Gull
1 G C Grebe
1 Grey Heron

10 Linnets on the Mixenden side of the golf course and 5 Stonechats together there

Withens Gap
4 Stonechats together along Cold Edge Road
1 Wheatear in the fields opposite the wind-farm car park

Fly Flats
5 Twite - but very flighty

Also the white Carrion Crow is still around Whitegate (near Shaking House Farm) just above Mixenden

Jumble Hole

Nuthatch calling in the garden this AM, and a siskin over later. A goldcrest was with a small pack of long tailed tits