EGP yet again!

I only went down there this morning to re-trace my steps as I contrived to lose one of my favourite gloves yesterday afternoon, no luck on that score but an interesting influx of hirundines in the area was apparent.

At least 20 Swallow and at least 8 Sand Martin were over the ski-lake.

14 singing Chiffchaff (same count as 28/3), no sign or sound of the Willow Warbler though, but a very early Blackcap was in full voice between the canal and the fishing lake.

Regarding the Blackcap, I have had the good fortune to have 2 male Blackcap over-winter in my garden, one arrived on 14/12/09 and the other arrived on 18/12/09. Both males were seen on 27/03/10 but have obviously departed for Germany or Austria or wherever they breed as I have not seen them since.

A bit more information for anyone who hasn't nodded off yet is that both males starting singing a 'sub-song' on 13/02/10 which continued right up until their departure, however I am confident that the EGP male is not an over-wintering individual as the location is ideal for summer migrants and I have regularly heard them in the same place in previous years and his song was much louder and more protracted.

One tip for attracting wintering Blackcap into your garden is to plant Mahonia as it flowers profusely in December and any insects around at that time of the year are attracted to the nectar produced which in turn makes it irresistible to Blackcaps in particularly although other birds such as Blue Tit and Dunnock also favour it.

Mandarin Day.

Male Mandarin on riverbank by Avocet Works which flew upstream towards Elland, and later down to Anchor Pit lock on the Calder another male Mandarin with some Mallard, and on the walk back 5 singing Chiffchaff

Last Chance to buy Bird Reports

Roll up, roll up. The last few copies of the bird report are available from Woodlesford Newsagents. Once they're gone, that's it folks, so if you haven't got one already, don't delay, get one today.

EGP

Willow Warbler singing in the sunshine by the lake near Cromwell Barn this afternoon, also 1 Sand Martin through E, sorry Mike!

Wildlife Crime Reporting

To All

With reference to the entry by Mike Henshaw on the 20th March 2010 concerning the dead Heron at EGP and report of a Police investigation. The only Police log around that date is on the 15th March following a report of youths throwing bricks at a baby swan (not my words – just quoting!). Police did attend this report.

Following from the last CBCG meeting at which Police representatives attend and after discussion with Nick Carter & Tim Walker. My suggestion is that a central log is kept of all reports made to West Yorkshire Police Calderdale Division involving Wildlife Crimes and other problems such as use of Off Road Vehicles on Bridle Paths, Footpaths, Moorland etc.

I am sure you are all aware that reports other than emergency/immediate response are to be made to Police on 0845 6060606. The person taking the report will give a log number to which you add the date. Once a report has been made brief details, log number plus date are passed to a CBCG member by email who will then keep a record.

The next stage will be to write periodically to the Police asking for update/actions taken if no feed back is received. This it is hoped will help concentrate minds and show that CBCG are organised in their approach towards wildlife/habitat. At the moment it would appear to be very much on the back burner as far as the Calderdale Divisional Commander is concerned.

I have volunteered to keep the records if this proposal is accepted.

Look forward to feedback.

Ripponden Churchyard

4 Goldcrest, 1 male displaying; Treecreeper; Pair of LSW chasing; dozen or so Long Tailed Tits.
Pair of Grey Wag, pair of Dipper and a Heron on the river.

Ogden Garden

A brambling was amongst the chaffinches at our garden feeders this afternoon.

Swallow at EGP

Swallow feeding around Cromwell Lock/Ski lake area at 0845 this morning and still there 1 hour later. Nuthatch nest building in last years site and pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers in and out of newly drilled hole at Brookfoot. 4 Chiffchaffs singing between Avocet Works and reedbed lagoon also 5 Grey Herons on Ski Lake,pair Great Crested Grebes, pair Tufted and 3 Lesser Black Backed Gulls and 8 Cormorant, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Kestrel.

Good Day - Bad Day

The day started with a plan to get some shots of Magpies building their nest just down the road followed by some sound recording and filming of skylarks before giving Nick an alarm call and heading out further afield for Snipe, Curlew, Lapwings, possible Lagomomorphs and maybe some late calling frogs.. The first indication that things were not going to go to plan was the lack of Magpies at their nest. Whilst waiting for the elusive corvids, I realised that the wind was getting up and a return home would be necessary to pick up a heavy-duty wind-shield for my microphone. After wasting ages turning the house upside down trying to find a mis-placed bit of kit, I eventually got under way and went to collect ND.
First stop was that quagmire known as Soil Hill. Yes, there were plenty of Skylarks around, and some were even performing song-flights, but their song was lost amidst the roar of the wind. The chill factor was decidedly Arctic up there, so we headed west to check out some better locations.
Stopping off at various locations en route, we eventually ended up on the Widdop Road which provided the same difficult filming opportunities as the other sites due to Arctic winds. Frustratingly, there were plenty of birds around, especially Curlew and Lapwing. It was whilst pulling in to the side of the road to check out some fields that ND noticed a gull in the distance....or was it? Sitting in the car, we waited for it to re-appear over the horizon in the distance. When it re-appeared we scrambled out of the car, Nick getting his scope on it, and me struggling to find the distant Osprey in the viewfinder of my camera. Whilst the bird was struggling against the wind, I was struggling against the laws of physics and my car was succumbing to the laws of gravity. What was that blue object moving at the periphery of my vision? Oh, that's just my car rolling down-hill. Errrrrr....... Luckily, I had seen all those Starsky and Hutch films in the '70s, so knew how to perform the "chase-after-runaway-vehicle-jump-in-and-wrench-on-the-handbrake" stunt. And, yes, I can run that fast.
So, now that I had saved my car from impending doom and the Osprey had departed for Lancashire, we decided to chuck everything in the boot, spin the car round and whizz across the border into Lancashire. Once over the border, we relocated the Osprey but I still failed to squeeze off any footage as it was too distant.
Having had enough of freezing winds, we headed for lower ground to visit one or two more sites before retiring for the day.
During the course of the day I failed to get any decent footage of my target species, failed to get any sound recordings of my target species, failed to get any footage of a bonus Osprey on two occasions and nearly trashed my car. However, we did get to see a passage Osprey and several other good raptors. I also managed to film a pair of Woodpigeon displaying, copulating and preening which I will upload to thebaldibis channel in due course.

Midgley twite

Four at the feeding station today, lets hope there's more to come!

Nesting

Birds seen building so far are a rook, struggling to start a new nest at Barkisland, collared dove, greenfinch. Nests found are blackbird, a part-finished nest in my hedge, and a robin with 2 eggs last Monday, 5 eggs today at West End in an open fronted box wired into thick ivy. BTO particularly needs records of open nesting birds, especially warblers. http://www.bto.org/.

Birders are welcome to attend the attached event in Halifax:

Double click image to enlarge.

soil hill

plenty of stuff on soil hill this afternoon. when i first got there at least five skylarks were singing, which is always a good sign. i was desperatly hoping for a male wheatear but instead i got four. they are obviously on the up. also presant were:
a stunning male reed bunting on the wires over the pool
a heron that flew right over me
2 lapwings on one of the lower layers
surprisingly few mipits
pied wagtail chiruping on the roof

a skylark in fullsong

at least four male wheatears on the hill, most by the pools, but surprisingly no females

the first swallow of soil hill zoomed past me whilst i was on the Bradford side. please dont tellme that this photo is rubbish, because i know full well and if you doubt it please take my word for it

Sowerby Bridge

Hollins Mill/Rose Grove, 2pm

Nuthatch
2 m GSWpecker
4 Chiffchaff
2 Coot at High Royd - no teal

usual tits, corvids etc

Gorple Lower and Upper and Walshaw Dean Lower

Misty and drizzle early on but the weather and visibility improved through the morning.
Gorple
Both reservoirs full and overflowing, so no visible shoreline to entice waders.
Skylark - 2
Mipit - 6 all at Lower, none at Upper
Curlew - 3
BH Gull - 2
Mallard - 13
Canada Geese heard but over far side of res so no count as visibility down to about 50 yards.
Red Grouse also audible but didn't see any.
Gate/Car Park area
Pied Wagtail
Mistle Thrush - 5
Walshaw Dean Lower
Almost full, just a couple of feet short of the overflow so not much shoreline visible.
Lapwing - 7
Curlew - 5
Oystercatcher - 2
Snipe - roding
At one point, for about 5 seconds, I could hear Lapwing, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Snipe and Red Grouse all calling/singing/roding at the same time. Brilliant.
Wheatear - male, on the wall along the Eastern side of the res. My first of the year.
Stock Dove - 2
Mipit - 6
Mallard - 8
Canada Goose - 27

Chiffchaff in the garden - Jumble Hole

One of the two chiffchaffs now present is now calling, albeit very weakly, around my garden.

2 ravens over yesterday, cronking.

Ogden

Stodfold area
1 Green Woodpecker
1 Little Owl
1 Sparrowhawk
c30 migrant mipits in the fields

Golf course
2 Skylarks
Meadow Pipits singing

Res'r
1 pair Goldeneye
3 Common Gulls
1 Goldcrest
1 Redpoll flyover over plantation

Cold Edge Road/Fly Flats

2 male Wheatears in the field opposite Nolstar Kennels along Cold Edge Road this afternoon - with apologies for the poor quality as I was digiscoping in a strong wind!

Fly Flats

2 f Goldeneye

No Twite

2 Skylarks

15 Meadow Pipits

usual Canadas!

Withens Head Farm

1 male Stonechat but no Wheatears there

Fly Flats

View towards Castle Carr and Midgley Moor this afternoon

Shelduck at Fly Flats this afternoon

Also present 2 Oystercatchers

2 Twite (both with BTO rings on right and one of these had blue/white/pink on left (from lower)
Pair of Goldeneye

2 Skylark

No Meadow Pipits

2 Wheatears at a distance near Withens Head Farm on 21st March

Fly Flats

At Fly Flats Tuesday. One wheatear by the bridge on the reservoir. Lots of GP calling & distant curlew xcalling a few sky lark and lots of mipits, several Canada on far shore.

Common Buzzard

Flying south over Deanhead this morning.




No Wheatear around Scammonden or Deanhead although 2 females seen just outside the Halifax Birding Area earlier.

2 Goldeneye & 6 Goosander on Deanhead Res.