Ogden etc

This morning around the res'r at Ogden was more about watching the floor rather than the sky ! The ice was still well in evidence around the perimeter footpath and suspected I was on the earlier trail of BS !. 

Best of the small birds was at least 2 very confiding flocks of Long-tailed Tits, maybe around 25 in total.

A Raven went over high,  'cronkin' and a Kingfisher was down in the sluice below the embankment.

10 Tufted Duck were on the water with  a few Black-headed and Common Gulls along with 1 juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull

Headed off to Booth Wood res'r early afternoon. After a short while searching with JB and BK the Black Redstart showed well feeding along the fissure cracks in the quarry face. A pretty special bird for this time of year. No camera with me. Also 4 Lapwing flyovers and on my way home a single Buzzard went high over the dam wall.

Shibden Valley

Redwing

Mistle Thrush

Shroggs Park - 6th Jan

 Didn't venture far today but I did manage a check of the woodland in Shroggs Park this afternoon.

3 Lesser Redpoll feeding high up in birch and a single Goldcrest skulking around in a  large privet bush were the best of, not  a lot other than a Nuthatch, 5 Redwings, a few Blackbirds and Magpies and c50 Woodpigeons feeding in the oak woodland.

Also a flock of c70 P-f Geese over Halifax / Calder Valley >W around 11:20 (D Br and PD)

7th and 8th January - a Black Redstart, photographed supplied, near Booth Wood  Res'r from (RJ) was a big surprise though there are other January records in Calderdale (must check). 

Still showing well today - 9th January.

Shroggs Park - 3rd Jan

 Birch and Oak hillside opposite B & Q and Shroggs landfill site in the sunshine late morning.

7 Lesser Redpoll feeding in the top of tall birch was a welcome surprise. Elsewhere in the woodland 

5 Siskin, Goldcrest, Treecreeper and a Nuthatch along with 4 sp of 'Tit'. Just the 1 each Mistle Thrush and Redwing along with several Blackbirds.

Nuthatch

Cold Edge - 2nd January

Single Pink-footed Goose still with the geese - 72 Geylags and 70 Canadas this afternoon.

2 Kestrel and 2 very distant Buzzards, 1 x 3rd w Herring Gull and 2 adults but little else of note other than corvids, c20 Starlings, 2 Stock Doves, 1 Collared Dove and a few B h Gulls and Common Gulls. 

Castle Carr Road - 1st January

Bitterly cold wind along the road this afternoon. A pair of Stonechats running the fence line adjacent to the patch of heathland was a welcome sight but one wonders how they manage to survive, and find food in those conditions.

Not  a lot else, but around 15 Meadow Pipits feeding in a patch of long grasses and 2 adult Herring Gulls over >W

Soil Hill

   A couple of visits to Soil Hill to round out 2025 have seen good numbers of snipe on offer. Both yesterday and this morning I flushed a Woodcock, this morning's individual eventually being flushed three times. And there has been an excellent count of six Jack Snipe yesterday, with five again today.

-Jack Snipe

-Woodcock

In total managed 27 species today, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S291155425

Cold Edge - 29th December

 Second visit this week to check on the geese - just in case of anything unexpected.

Always nice to find a Pink-footed Goose associating with 68 Greylags and 112 Canadas.

Little else this afternoon other than 1 Grey Heron, 2 Kestrels and  a Cormorant on the lower dam. 

Others included 32 B h Gulls, 22 Common Gulls and 2 Herring Gulls, 

Rochdale Canal at Todmorden

  The Todmorden Shag did the polite thing and waited two weeks for me to return to Halifax, allowing me to see it. Fortunately, it did not take too long to find yesterday morning, sat on the nearside canal bank below Lock 16, adjacent to the Haugh Road Bridge. The bird seemed completely unconcerned by people passing by, giving excellent views. 

-Shag

In total managed 33 species today, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S290492324

Cold Edge - 19th December

Two additions to Pete's recent Greylag Goose count with 34 now and a Pink-footed Goose.

Little else other than 3 Red Grouse, c60 Starlings, a Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and a few Black-headed and Common Gulls.

Also a welcome update from SB today (20th) with the Shag still present and looking good along the Rochdale Canal near Todmorden. (still there on 21st)