Hebden Water, Hebden Bridge

Dipper

Cromwell Bottom

The day started off with interest....Whooper Swans on the move being reported passing over Calderdale in small groups as well as skeins of Pink-footed Geese (DJB, SiB, AR et al) and a Little Egret over Northowram (AC).

I met up with AT at Cromwell Bottom. had a good catch up and a good look round to see what we could find around the reserve. The site was really quiet for small birds other than a few Robins, Great Tits and a Wren etc. A Little Grebe and Moorhen were just above the weir along with a Grey Heron, a Cormorant flyover and later Jays were calling. A Dipper on the river and Mute Swan on the canal.

The ski-lake was a nightmare to get any sort of view at all but we did find an early returner with a female Goldeneye along with a pair of Tufted Duck. Just a few gulls including 1 adult Herring Gull and adult LBBG.

Later on in the day we had a report of a single Whooper Swan on the ski-lake (MSh) - another good find.

Whiteholme

1 of 8 birds here today - 5 Crows, 3 Meadow pipits

Soil Hill etc....

I tried Soil Hill this morning (though later than DJB)!!

I didn't pick any movement at all other than some birds that were really high  >SW too far away for any idea what they were. I only did the summit, as was NK so we had a nice chat. 1 Stonechat, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Jays went >N I watched them out of sight. Another Jay 'blogging', 1 Kestrel and a hand-full of Meadow Pipits.

Report from Rochdale birder (SA) at Blackstone Edge of 16 Whooper Swans went over heading >SE around 10:00. Time to watch out for some more over Calderdale any time now, hopefully more skeins of Pink-footed Geese too. Occasionally both species can be heard overhead during the night !

North of England Raptor Forum

 A local event in Halifax. Not to be missed for anyone interested in Birds of Prey. Their struggles to survive and their conservation.

https://raptorforum.wordpress.com/2024/09/09/bookings-for-the-annual-raptor-conference-are-now-open/

ALSO....................

 

On Thursday 17th October at 7:30 pm, in conjunction with the Calderdale Bird Conservation Group, we will be hosting a talk in the Visitor Centre by Andy Huyton about birding in Romania.  There are limited places available and attendance is free of charge. 

 

Please reserve your place by following the link below.

 

https://buytickets.at/cromwellbottomwildlifegroup/1427247

 

You will be asked to register your name and email address and will receive confirmation (or otherwise) of your place(s).

Beacon Hill

 An interesting hour this afternoon heading up Long Lane and around the beacon. 

A Stonechat was a new one for me up there. Plenty, 40+ Goldfinch on thistles and a flock of 38 Linnets lined up on some overhead wires then flew across to land on the roof of a barn full of hay.

Buzzard and a Green Woodpecker also heard, 1 Jay and a Little Owl calling.

Hunter Hill area

23 species this afternoon - the best was a pair of Little Owls. They seem to have been scarce around my usual haunts in the last year or two even though I systematically check many of the traditional spots. It was nice to come across these two and making a lot of noise between them at one point.

Also distant were 3 Common Buzzards, 2 Grey Herons, 1 Jay, Kestrel and Barn Owl.

Castle Carr Road

 Sunday afternoon 6th October - 

Stonechat (1 of 3 present)

Kestrel

Wheatear

Withens Clough

Reservoir circuit this afternoon in the sunshine. Plenty of shoreline with 3 red-head Goosander, but no waders on it other than a flock of c45 Lapwing that know the spot where they are well hidden !

Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Raven and at least 3 Kestrels. 1 Green Woodpecker calling and a small flock of Goldfinch near the plantation. Unable to locate any Stonechats today.

15 species in total.

Soil Hill - 5th October

Sky was 'dead' - nothing moving at all, that I could see, other than 2 Redwings and a single Mistle Thrush both species heading south through the gap between 'the hill' and Ogden.

I didn't venture down to the bottom of the north slope but viewed from the top. A single Jay was 'blogging' along with a few Meadow Pipits (14+) and a Kestrel. 9 Rooks also went past towards Illingworth, probably having vacated their roost.

Soil Hill and other updates

 An interesting couple of hours on 'the hill' this morning. Not a lot on the top other than 2 Snipe flyovers and 6+ Meadow Pipits, a Kestrel, 7 Red-legged Partridge and a few Common Gulls.

The north slope and tree lined gully were a little more interesting though, as expected, no sign of Sundays Yellow-browed Warbler. It was nice to find 3 Stonechat, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Chiffchaff and a number of Goldfinch along with a Moorhen on 'the pond'. Good to head back up the slope with NK who later on found a Whinchat just above the Ned Hill track. I missed that one but found a nice Wheatear in the YW field along Ned Hill Road.

No sign at all of any visible migration.

Wheatear

A scarce bird today for Calderdale nowadays. From JJL with a drake Pochard at Ringsone. Some nice photo's on Johns blog.

Checking the big gull roost at Fly Flats early evening NCD and RA managed to find 5 adult Yellow-legged Gulls, with a Little Egret dropping in towards last light.

Just a flavour of recent news.!

We don't get very many reports of Great White Egret in Calderdale even though they are reported fairly regularly from some other sites in West Yorkshire. Of great surprise therefore was 8 - yes 8 found at Ringstone (DF) on the morning of 22nd September. They didn't linger and moved on around 09:40. A quite exceptional record.

A Little Egret was also seen near Copley on Friday 27th September (CS)

Skeins of Pink-footed Geese were being reported over Calderdale from 9th September with good numbers on the move mostly in a westerly direction though some later ones were easterly bound. In the last week or so the numbers reported have tailed-off though there could be more any time now. day or night.

A few Swallows are still around, possibly with a few House Martins though now mostly on the move. Swifts and Sand Martins are well gone. Chiffchaff's are still being reported as well as a Blackcap yesterday (PB) from Luddenden Dean and there is still time for some Wheatears.

A scattering of winter visitors has appeared in the last few days with a Redwing being reported from Slack Top (SiB) and then c10 in Luddenden Dean (PB) yesterday as well as others from Sowerby (MB). At least 24 Redwings were over Ogden this afternoon with 14 Mistle Thrush, a Song Thrush and a few Blackbirds making the most of rowan berries (DJS). Goldcrests also seem to be arriving in suitable locations including Cromwell Bottom (KC) and Luddenden Dean (PB).

It is well worth listening out for more Redwing flocks. Try after dark and with decent hearing they may well be heard passing over. ! (sorry don't think I can add the call on here)

Also from JM - a local Tree Sparrow ringed by SD in May 2019 is still going strong at one of our sites. Now aged 5yrs and 4 months. Amazing considering the average life-span is 2 years.

Black-headed Gull, J0190, black on white

I now have data about this bird from 'ringmerking.no', the Norwegian ringing scheme based in Stavanger.

It is a male that was ringed as an adult on 21/4/2021 in Oslo, Norway. Since then it has taken up long-distance commuting. I'll list where it has been seen between then and now:

1/4/2022 Oslo, 24/6/2022 Oslo

20/12/2022 Shibden Park

14/4/2023 Oslo, 12/5/2023 Oslo

27/11/2023 Shibden Park, 4/1/2024 Shibden Park

6/4/2024 Oslo, 10/5/2024 Oslo

22/8/2024 Shibden Park, 28/9/2024 Shibden Park 

Oslo is about 1050 km (650 miles) NE of Halifax

Soil Hill

 Absolutely amazing scenes on Soil Hill this morning! My most wanted dream bird for the site!

It was a slow morning of VizMig over Soil Hill today, with just a few Meadow Pipits and Woodpigeons heading south from first light. At 08:05 I thought I heard the call of a Yellow-browed Warbler in the North Slope Tree-Line about 20 metres away from my watchpoint, but a search found nothing. However, about 15 minutes later I heard it again and this time the source of the call flew out of the bushes being hotly pursued by a Chiffchaff. I followed it to where it landed and set off to get a closer look, now certain that it was a Yellow-browed Warbler. Helpfully it flew back out of the scrub it had landed in and returned to the North Slope Tree-Line, and I was able to grab some poor flight shots which confirmed my suspicions!

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER!

My 128^th species on Soil Hill!

Over the next two hours the bird showed on and off in the willows and hawthorns at the bottom of the North Slope Tree-Line, sometimes well but usually at the back of the trees where viewing was more difficult. Strangely it only ever called when it was receiving grief from the Chiffchaffs that were present, only on one occasion calling of its own accord. This made it difficult to track, as did its apparent decision to keep to itself, not associating with the small tit flock that was in the area.

An absolutely brilliant bird, incredible to think that this little piece of Siberia has ended up here in Pennine West Yorkshire!

Also of note, I had my first Great-spotted Woodpecker for the year on Soil Hill as well, which is my 100^th species on Soil Hill in 2024! 

-Yellow-browed Warbler

In total managed 40 species today, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S196856766

Trektellen count here; https://www.trektellen.org/count/view/767/20240929