Langfield and Gaddings

I walked up to Langfield and Gaddings Dam this morning while the weather was reasonably warm. Not a great deal about as Spring is still lagging behind the calendar. The leaves on the trees are still not fully out, our blossom tree isn't fully in blossom yet and the daffodils are just about in full flower in the back garden. Hoping for the same haul of birds I saw this time last year was a little optimistic then, and it turned out that way too.

Linnet - 5
Reed Bunting - 3 singing males
Mipit - a fair number about but not really on a par with other years
Skylark - just 2 singing at Gaddings
Little Ringed Plover - 1 on the shore at Gaddings
Red Grouse - 1 calling

No Groppers yet (maybe the juncus being flattened by the snow is detering them?). Never mind there's still time for the year to catch up.

Raggalds Flood and Mixenden Res'r

2 Shelduck there this afternoon looking very settled but no waders. (AC and NK et al)

60+ Swifts on Mixenden Res'r this afternoon along with c 20 House Martins

Fly Flatts

This evening with NCD turned out good with 8 waders sp. ..
1 Ringed Plover
1 Dunlin
6 Redshank
6 Common Sandpipers
Golden Plover
1 Oystercatcher
6 Curlew north late on
1 Snipe
Also 1 Red-legged Partridge
1 Kestrel
Lots of Canada's plus a few Mallard
One or two Swifts over
c7 L B B Gulls >w
SEO

Withens Head
2 Wheatear
1 Curlew

Bird Pathology - "The Bird on the Bench"

There will be a talk at Halifax Scientific Society tomorrow at 7.15. All are welcome.

Dr John Mather of the YNU (Yorkshire Naturalists Union) is visiting from Knaresborough to give a talk with slides he calls "The Bird on the Bench". He's an enertaining speaker; I heard him at the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) conference last autumn in Leeds.

John has been a long term ringer, specialising in Starlings, and studying their ectoparasites.

He also wrote "The Birds of Yorkshire", and preserves birds as drawer specimens for plumage studies.
I passed on to him the male Common Scoter that Andy Cockroft found which he has offered to bring back in its preserved form, as well as a Waxwing.

Green Withens

Spent a good hour or so this afternoon watching a Hobby, grounded by the rain - as was everything else!

Birds on the res: Dunlin, Common Sand, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover (photo from earlier in the week).

Jumble Hole bits

A buzzard has been around this weekend. The woodcock is still roding on still evenings. The blackcaps have been here for some weeks, but still no garden warbler or whitethroat. Nuthatch, great spotted and green woodpecker have been very evident.

Whiteholme/Withens Clough

Whiteholme this morning
Redshanks 2, Common Sandpiper 2 Ringed Plover 1



Withens Clough this aft
Ringed Plover 1, Little ringed Plover 2,Dunlin 2,Common Sandpiper 2 Stonechat male/female,Whinchat 1.

Ringstone Res'r

I called early evening but the strong wind made it tricky!
1 G C Grebe
2 B H Gulls
c70 Swallows
4+ Sand Martins
No waders

Dr. John Mather

A reminder that on Tues May 14th Dr. John Mather will give a talk entitled "The Bird on the Bench." at the Halifax Scientific Society at 7:15 pm in the Hx Central Library. All welcome.

Some recent pics from round and about.

One of 3 Wheatear on lower slopes possibly driven off by the recent fires?

Nice to see this Common Toad on the moors close to one of the sites of the recent fires.

Do these things ever have a bad breeding season?

Shrew sp. at Elland recently, I've no idea of the species but think the colours make it look like one of the Wombles lol

Ringed Plover showing signs of nesting though no nest site has been chosen yet!

Only wish I could have shaken the rain off as easily.

Cragg Vale, Withens Clough

Nipped up in the rain this aft', in the folorn hope of finding a whinchat (I didn't and haven't up here for a few years now), however, I did have a female merlin over, heading towards Stoodley Pike and a bonny male stonechat on the wires. 
I was staggered to see the extent of the damage done by recent swaling events on the moors.  All Byron Edge is burnt to a crisp, as is Soyland Moor, to Great Manshed Hill and as far north as Mount Pleasant Cottages.  A large portion of the northern slopes of Rishworth Moor is black too.  I shudder to think of the damage to upland species this must have caused.

Chris

Common Tern

Arrived at Elland Gravel Pits at 14.40hrs to find a Common Tern hawking for insects over the ski-lake, however it very soon departed high to the west shortly after at 14:50hrs. I am afraid that my photos are not of the same quality as Fran 44's Arctic Tern amazing efforts but they are arguably better than nothing at all I suppose.

 

 It is a real shame that the access and viewpoints of this body of water are so limited nowadays.

 

A very quick dash around the 'reserve' north of the river revealed a few other notable sightings, namely 27 adult & 14 juvenile Canada Goose (2 broods), 8 adult & 3 juvenile Mallard (something amiss here), 1 Common Swift, 4 Sand Martin, 1 singing Sedge Warbler & 3 singing Common Whitethroat.

Ogden

This afternoon we checked the plantations etc in the hope of locating Tree Pipit - but not a 'sniff' unfortunately!
We did have a bonus though in the form of c20 Lesser Redpolls with a few Siskin and closely followed by 2 Crossbills high up in the Scots Pines. They flew off nearby and we were treated to a male Crossbill right in the top of a Silver Birch and drinking from a nearby pool.
Several Willow Warblers also present and 2 Goldcrests and that was about it with nothing unusual on the water other than a solitary L B B Gull.