Sunday, December 30, 2007

Cromwell Bottom - 30/12/07

Spent 4 hours walking around there this morning.

7 cormorants on the ski jump
8 little grebe
3m2f goldeneye
2m2f tufted duck
4m1f goosander
1 grey heron
1m pochard
1 herring gull
large number of coots
100s of common and blackheaded gull

10 or so teal on the reedbed lake
3 jay
4 approx bullfinch
5 goldcrest
big flocks of long tailed tits - including a no tailed tit that didn't seem to have a problem keeping up with the flock
1 dipper on the river
1 great spotted woodpecker on the feeder just north of the car park
large numbers of great and blue tits on the feeders in the car park plus 3 robins and 1 greenfinch

nothing on the feeders on tag

3 comments:

Goldon Gordon said...

Hi Ian
That's probably because I have not filled the feeders for three days. Down again in the morning with a sack full of grub to top up the feeders. Surprised there were no Siskin around ? The best time at CB is very early before the walkers, dog walkers or dickheads on motor bikes/with or without guns arrive around 11am onwards.Sue and I are usually long gone by 9/9.30am. We avoid the place altogether at weekends as it gets stressful tackling the great white hunters with pop gun air rifles

Ian Scott said...

Hi Paul
There still appeared to be food in the feeders - the seed ones nearly full and the nut ones maybe a quarter full. We had one flock of probably siskins fly over the car park but I'd already packed the bins away by then so wouldn't like to be positive.

I must have been lucky so far - no motorbikes or guns.

Goldon Gordon said...

Hi Ian
Your were right hardly any food gone over three days. The feeders are usually empty after less than two days. I hope its the mild weather causing it and not the air rifle brigade. Sue and I saw very little this morning as it was still very gloomy at 8am and far too dark to see anything except right in front of you.

I avoid later in the day for walks at CB as at one time I had to go armed with a geologist hammer in my field bag for several months after being threatened. I tackled some blokes with terriers and spades about to dig out a fox and not having a mobile phone with me things got quite hairy for a time ! I was saved by some people walking past or I think it might have been me down the fox earth :-)) The blokes in question I found out later are Badger baiters, so risky to tangle with on your own.They threatened to kill me if they ever saw me around in Calderdale, so I took the hammer with me on every walk just in case. I now approach any idiots with mobile switched on and talking with the police which usually quietens them down before things turn nasty.