Thursday, September 17, 2009

Blackstone Edge/White Holme/Lighthazzles/Gaddings

An afternoon walk from The White House to Gaddings then home was very uneventful at first with only a few Mipits around until I got to Lighthazzles. Then things picked up with 37 Barnacle Geese on the far shore. Took a few photos then settled down for a late lunch, when the peace was shattered by a large, noisy helicopter that made the geese take off and fly towards White Holme.


Carried on to Gaddings and although I approached as quietly as I could, a Greenshank took off from the shore line when I was about 50 yards away, and landed further along the shore. Circled around and approached down a usefully positioned gully to get a better view and hopefully some photos but a dog walker appeared and the bird took off, circled and flew off towards Lighthazzles. The photos I got aren't very good but here are the best two.

Finished the walk by going past Lee Dam and watched 7 swallows diving into the water (bathing?) rather than just skimming the surface as I've seen them do in the past.

4 comments:

Andrew Huyton said...

Jeff great record of the Barnacle geese, I've never known this species be record away from Ogden (which is clearly a feral bird) but a large flock at this time of year no question of the authenticity. Someone may well correct me on the previous records but grounded flocks of any geese are quite rare in Calderdale. Greenshank as well, excellant, a species not on my Calderdale list, though oddly Avocet is!! Twitcher is the cry I hear from the assembled masses!!

Jeff Cox said...

Twitcher! I cry as one of the assembled masses.

P.S. The link to your site on the blog site is broken?!?

AndyC said...

Grat day out there Jeff excellent records.

David Sutcliffe said...

Those are fantastic records Jeff - well done