Sunday, April 17, 2011

White Stork over Halifax 12.22pm

A shopping trip this p.m. turned out to be a bonus whilst waiting at the lights in town to turn right up Pellon Lane.
A large bird  soared behind the block of flats which I thought was a Heron but when it re appeared it was seen to be a White Stork. It was very high and soaring round in circles without beating its wings. As the lights changed I had to drive on whilst Lynda alerted the cavalry via the grapevine.
When we got to Asda and was speaking to DJS on the phone I could still see the bird over town in the same position. After 5 minutes in Asda the frustration got too much and I came back out into the car park to see the bird right overhead still soaring, I boast that my camera goes everywhere with me but that doesnt include Asda, it will in future.
After more phone calls the bird lost high somewhat and flew directly over Asda >N parallel to Pellon Lane.
I was sure NCD would pick it up as it was heading maybe to the west of him but it was the size of a barn door so should be easy to see but somehow it slipped through the net of the waiting crew , unless of course it went down somewhere.
The problem with a White Stork is, is it a genuine or a free flyer from Harewood, we,ll never know
Who said shoppings boring
BS

6 comments:

Jeff Cox said...

I hate shopping - but that is one trip I'd have loved be on. Great stuff Brian.

Steve Cummings said...

I was leaving EGP to pick Nick up when the message came in, so headed to Nicks via Skircoat...King Cross...Queeens Rd...Pellon Lane but never got a glimpse of it.
Picked Nick up and met DJS at Mnt Tabor.....still no sign.
After a fruitless wild crow chase at Cottonstones we headed for Ryburn where we met a guy in the car park who claimed he had just had a White Stork over his house in Littleborough around 12:30. Looks like it's the Harewood bird on its way to its favourite horse paddocks in Haywood Manchester where I first saw it many years ago. We used to joke about it being dyslexic and not able to spell Harewood properly. It fooled a lot of Mancunian birders until Judith Smith checked out its bracelets.

Brian Sumner . said...

Thanks for the info Steve , its always good when someone else picks the bird up, Im still annoyed about not having the camera.
Jeff, you can take Lynda to Asda next week while I go birding, its unlikely to happen again. Todays bird must have come close to your area?

David Sutcliffe said...

Great stuff Bri - well spotted. We were just 'miffed' we couldn't relocate the bird up Pellon Lane - looks like it probably drifted west up the Calder Valley. Still a great bird to see high overhead.

I once went on a 'twitch' for one down in South Wales back in 'the old days' but much more exciting was seeing them in Spain - soaring over Madrid airport on our arrival!

martynbirder said...

well spotted Brian,reminds me of the one I had over the Calder Valley back in the early nineties, everyone said that was one of the Harewood birds but I remember someone in Bradford had been there that day and guess what, they were all there so you never know, always a great sight to see

Jeff Cox said...

I was out with the bins as soon as I got the msg just in case it came over the house but no sign I'm afraid.

I'm taking my wife (Linda!) shopping tomorrow and I'm taking my bins, scope and camera :)