Cold Edge

Cormorant: 1 adult, 2 immatures. The adult is 'British', P c carbo, with the rear edge of the yellow gular patch sloping forward below the gape

Withens Head - 19th August

A Black Redstart fem/imm appeared to arrive late afternoon along with 3 Whinchats and a juvenile Stonechat. No camera with me but thankfully had the scope which is always a help up there, They appeared around 16:30 and were still around when I left. Best viewed from the roadside opposite the wind-farm car park.

20th August - no sign of them this morning though the heavy rain did not help ! 

I went to check Fly Flats, the mist was in and out with the rain. Again,a scope job found 3 Common Sandpipers present and 50+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 Black-headed Gulls along with a single female type Tufted Duck.

A message from BS at Ogden with a nice find of a single Ruff on the shoreline prompted me down there. I just got very wet and failed to re-locate it.

Cold Edge

Kestrel, female or juvenile

Carrion Crow adult with 3 juveniles

Adult Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The Herring Gull is missing white-tipped primaries, probably P7-10, exposing the distal part of the tail

Scaup 3 juveniles. The bills are diagnostic

Cold Edge

Caspian Gull, probably 3rd calendar year (3cy). The bird is of similar size to the Lesser Black-back next to it, but with a smaller head and thinner bill. It has a white head with a long sloping forehead, and a dark eye set forward. The yellow bill is long, slim, parallel-sided, and with a dull red spot on the lower mandible. The greyish-pink legs are long. The upperparts are fairly pale grey, with some grey-brown greater coverts, and faint brown streaking on the neck side. The dark primaries project well beyond the tertials, with a single mirror.

Cold Edge

Scaup. The bird was shy, staying on the opposite side of the dam from where I was sitting. It dived repeatedly. It has a steep forehead, and then its profile curved smoothly from crown to nape to hindneck. There was no crest or lump at the nape, although when it faced away from the wind, its nape feathers were at times slightly lifted by the wind (3rd photo). Its body is broad. It has a long broad bill, with black confined to the tip, and no pale grey subterminal band. Its wing bar is white, strongest on the secondaries - similar to Tufted.

Mixenden Reservoir - 15th Aug

 Had a stroll around Carrs Beck, Hunter Hill and Mixenden Reservoir this morning.

Not a great deal of activity other than lots of Swallows and a few House Martins on Hunter Hill. Several Stonechats about along with a Green Woodpecker calling.

Just got to Mixenden Res'r and a lot of commotion from the resident Carrion Crows. Seems they were giving an Osprey some hassle before it flew out over the water and made it's way up towards Ogden. Just about managed some distant photos, heavily cropped. 

A nice early returner, hopefully a few more reports pending as autumn approaches.

Whiteholme

Stonechat

Blackstone Edge

Common Sandpiper 2

Black-headed Gull 10, including 1 juvenile

Whiteholme

Whimbrel

 

Blackstone Edge

Goldfinch juvenile

Little Ringed Plover 1

Also:  Ringed Plover 3

Whiteholme

Meadow Pipit carrying food

And here are photos that have had me puzzled, not least because they are not very good. They show a compact brown bird with a large black eye in a plain face. An eye ring is visible in the first photo. The back is streaked dark brown: tertials have broad pale fringes and almost reach the wing tip. The tail is dark brown centrally with yellow-brown sides, (and no white), and rounded corners. Underparts are plain, with some faint streaking of the breast sides. The bill is pinkish brown, and the legs and feet are light pink.

My id is Grasshopper Warbler. I have only had one previous good look at a 'Gropper', and the feature that stood out for me then was the pinkness of the legs: I think this clinches the id here. It could be a juvenile because books say these are warmer brown than adults, and because of the way it stood out in the open.

(Earlier, I was walking NE along the track beside the reservoir when I flushed a bird at the side of the track just a few feet away: it was small and brown and I got nothing on it, and after about 25 yards it dropped into the long grass. Later, when I was returning, the same thing happened again. I had no idea what this bird was, but with hindsight it is interesting that Hume et al in 'Europe's Birds' say that Grasshopper Warbler "may flush at close range".)

PS (12 August): This bird is actually a young MEADOW PIPIT! See Mick Cunningham's erudite analysis in 'COMMENTS'.

Blackstone Edge

Wheatear 2.  The second bird is missing its left 5th(?) primary. Can anyone tell me please whether ALL passerines have a short first primary?

Ringed Plover 2

Herring Gull 2 west

Whiteholme

Ringed Plover 1

Lesser Black-backed Gull juvenile and adult

Blackstone Edge

Ringed Plover 3

Linnet 2 juveniles: birds lack white upper and lower eye crescents, and white cheek spot. Bill is different shape from Twite: base is deeper