Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Scammonden 22/09/10

168 Pink-footed Goose NE at 09:02hrs was a great sight along with Peregrine, Sparrowhawk & Kestrel interacting over the area about 15 mins earlier.

Very good numbers of common migrants flitting around, particularly Chiffchaff (numerous birds singing), a few Willow Warbler and one male Blackcap plus influx of Mistle Thrush, Blackbird and Goldcrest.

Interesting observation (I thought so anyway) at Deanhead Reservoir was 12 Coal Tit in 3 different parties over the space of about 10 mins flew south over the dam wall and continued flying over the moorland to who knows where, presumably migrants? It will be interesting to note if any other observers notice an increase in numbers of this species.

5 Alba Wagtail also flew south there and a Little Grebe looked really out of place on the water. On that subject I realise this is old news (I did let Nick Dawtrey know on the day of the sighting) but I saw and photographed one of two Willow Tit on 23 August at Scammonden, I contacted John Beaumont to see if he had ever seen one at this site previously and having just returned from holiday he has confirmed that this is the first record of that species at this site, so it would appear that there may be a small number of them managing to hold on somewhere nearby, maybe Stainland Dean or Black Brook perhaps?

4 comments:

David Sutcliffe said...

Hi Dave - yes Nick did pass on the info about the Willow Tits, that's a really good find. We have had reports the last year or two in the Rishworth valley just below Booth Wood Res'r and near Pike End. I think these were both from Sean J.
I have noticed Coal Tits have been reported in good numbers at several vis mig sites locally and further afield. Looks like they have had a good year.
Nice one with the 'pinkies' as well as the other migrants today.

David Sutcliffe said...

Great stuff to get a decent photo of the Willow Tit.

David Tattersley said...

I wouldn't say it was decent but I was desperately trying to photograph one as I could hardly believe a pair were up there, although they are still hanging on in quite a few elevated places in the Huddersfield area thankfully.

By the way that Dipper photo is a belter, were you in camouflaged gear or a hide at the time?

martynbirder said...

great find and a good photom must be a hard species to photograph

when I used to do vis mig on a regular basis at Paul Clough and Cold Edge I used to get Coal Tits (and Blue) passing over the moors on a regular basis, I think these are local dispersals as the Migration Atlas lists very few recoveries over 20k but they could be longer migrations including continental birds. These were always in smalll groups of 3-15 birds