Thursday, March 11, 2010

Gaddings and Langfield

Following Dave's heads-up to watch out for Wheatear arrivals I walked over West Scout to Gaddings and Langfield Edge to check if any had arrived early. My earliest record over the last 10 years is 20 March 2005 for a Wheatear up here, so I wasn't really expecting any yet....but you never know. It was a nice clear morning, but very quiet.
8 Canada Geese on Longfield Dam
2 Goldeneye at Gaddings (1 male, 1 female)
3 Skylarks singing
1 Meadow Pipit
The highlight of the morning was coming across a load of common frogs (I counted 51 of them but there must have been more) writhing about and making a racket in the reeds and pools below Langfield Edge.
No Wheatears though.
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3 comments:

David Sutcliffe said...

Lovely day to be out again Jeff! Looks like you drew a blank on Wheatear - just like us!

7:11 pm
Matt Bell said...

Jeff - if you're looking for early wheatears round your patch I have always found the top of Erringden to be very productive, particularly the western edge of the brow of the hill in a morning. In the days before I carried a camera, I once had 5 males sat together on 8' of dry stone wall. Would have make a great photo!

7:48 pm
Jeff Cox said...

Thanks Matt - I do go up Erringden every now and then, usually to Cruttonstall above Callis Wood, but my local patch stops around Swillington/Strait Hey so I don't visit Erringden as often as other places. I'll certainly give it try and thanks for the tip.

West Scout and Gaddings are very reliable for Wheatears - but obviously not for early arrivals!

8:42 pm

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