Of interest

Hummingbird Hawk Moth at Moor End Gardens, in recorders back yard this afternoon feeding on budlia bush

Ringstone 31st august

1 black tern(still present at 3.30)
1 Wheatear
7 teal
2 G,C. grebe
3 Stock Dove
1 sand martin
20 house martin
150 + swallow
5 meadow pipit

Underbank - 5:00pm

Peregrine (juv.) low over, mobbed by 12 swallows, sparrowhawk and jackdaw. Green and GS woodpecker, 2 bullfinch. Also, very early pip' bat flying around.

Northowram Vis 29th and 30th

165 Swallows s/w
9 house martin s/w
3 meadow pipit s/w
8 pied wagtail high south
2 grey Wagtail high south

other birds in northowram
52 Collared dove
95 goldfinch
35 greenfinch
2 little owl
5 linnet
1 skylark
19 mistle thrush
1 gs woodpecker

COLD EDGE DAMS

29/08/05 0715- 0915
Vis Mig. Some early movement till forced to abandon through strong SW,
horizontal heavy drizzle and poor visibility.
Swallow 5 >W
Mipit 21 >W
Pied Wag 1 >W

Other. Usual mallard and Canadas, BS

CAUGHT ON CAMERA... Its suprising what you pick up with a scan across the moor. GD above Cold Edge this morning. BS 

COLD EDGE DAMS

Vis Mig 0730-1045 28/08/05
Swallow 46 >SW
House Martin 3 >SW
Pied Wag 4 >W
Snipe 4 >W
Mipit 48 >S

Other :- 1 Hybrid Garganey 1f Teal 3 m Tufted + usual. BS

Walshaw Dean Estate fined

Of interest, see

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/news/story.asp?ID=756

Walshaw Dean estate fined for damaging moorland.

Spotted flycatcher

Spotted fly in bushes on Underbank, nr. Jumble Hole. This is a first for this site for me. It's extremely overgrown up there, so it could easily have been there all summer, or just as likely been brought down by heavy rains this morning.

Nuthatch

Hi Matt
the first record in calderdale was in hardcastle craggs in october 1950.A pair bred in centre vale park todmorden in 1987(this may be near the schoo?).With the recent explosion of this species it is not uncommon to see/hear them almost anywhere these days.

Todmorden

Nuthatch calling from the woods behind Tod High School. Is this a usual site?

Nortowram...vis 21 and 22 august

185 Swallows s/w
2 Sand martin s/w
1 swift south
16 house martin s/w
1 tree pipit south
(No mipits at all so far?)

Other birds
Little Owl ,18 mistle thrush,1 peregrine (flew towards Halifax)50 goldfinch,7 linnet and 4 Skylark.

Withens Clough

My first visit unfortunately for almost 2 weeks and it's gone very quiet, 1 common sandpiper, 2 Wheatear, Female Mallard has 4 young left, 20+ BH Gulls and 1 poss more Goldcrests in small copse to the right of the Res. The big news however is that the breeding LRP have now left on my last visit I only sawthe single adult bird and 1 def although poss there was a second juv bird present (very mobile and independant although they weren't fledged, it has become impossible to see all the shore line due to the extremely low water levels.) I would appreciate any other news on these birds.

Also on drive down Juv Peregrine sat on fence post next to Crag road by Blackstone Edge Res. typically moved out of range having driven past stopped and made a grab for my camera. (must remember to carry it in the front seat and not the boot hey Sean!) The bird flew onto a nearby pylon before heading off NW towards Whiteholme Res.

Cold Edge Dams

VIS MIG 0715-1045hrs 21/08/05

Swallow 140 >W
House Martin 18 >W
Swift 2 >W
Mipit 84 >W
Snipe 8 >W
Pied Wag 4 >W
Grey Wag 2 >W

Other.....2 Red Grouse 2 Heron + usual BS

Twite feeding stations

Hi all

In an attempt to improve the fortunes of local twite and also to increase sightings of colour ringed birds several feeding stations are currently in operation locally, any sightings from these areas (or indeed anywhere else!) will be gratefully received. The feeding stations are located as follows..

Midgley SE033276 (on track leading to dams)
Cold Edge SE045294 (on track leading towards reservoirs)
Fly Flatts SE029315 (on track adjacent to pump house)
Withens Gap SE045305 (on track at right angled bend)
Lighthazzles res SD965197 (on track between reservoirs)
Ringstone Edge SE047183 (NW corner of res) Please note as a result of an impending lease agreement with Yorkshire water access to this site is only available to invitees of the HBWC, please contact midgleybirder@yahoo.co.uk for further details.

Please forward any sightings to midgleybirder@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks are expressed to Green Business Network for assistance with grant aid for this project.

Thanks

Nick

Ex-house martin

I was sat outside having a cup of tea about 8:30 this morning, and this house martin literally dropped out of the sky onto the lawn, took a couple of breaths, and died. There were no other martins around (though there have been lots passing through recently) and they don't nest anywhere nearby. Poor sod.

Elland GP

Mike Stead reports a Green Sandpiper at Elland GP today.

COLD EDGE DAMS

14/08/05 0730-1045hrs
Vis Mig Swallow 45 >SW
Swift 2 >W
House Martin 4 >W
Sand Martin 2 >W
Other... 4 Linnets on seed
108 Canadas in from E. Not the resident flock
32 Mallard BS

Birding on the Radio

Don't know if anyone is interested but there was a programme on Radio 4 today about twitching, can be heard again by going to

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml#f

and picking out " Four hundred plus club" from the list of available programmes.

Wheatears starting to move with 6 at Cold Edge this a.m. BS 

COLD EDGE DAMS

Vis Mig 0730-1045hrs
57 Swallow >SW
4 Swift >SW
2 Lapwing >E
1 Green Sandpiper >NE 0945hrs
6 Wheatear on deck
1 Willow Warbler
OTHER 1 Moorhen with full grown juv. 1 Heron 8 Linnet on seed. BS

Cold Edge Dams

1800hrs
2 Wheatears, mega for here. 1 Dunlin 2 Lapwings Several blogging Mipits arrived since Wed night. BS

Whiteholme

Gordon Denison reports a Whimbrel on the island at Whiteholme today.

Withens Clough Reservoir

Withens Clough Reservoir
(Where Andy had his Swallows)

Withens Clough Reservoir looking East (c)


Withens Clough Reservoir looking South (c)


Dave.

Swallows

Hi Andy
After migration counting for the full season last year (the first full year for me!), what I believe would be happening with the Swallows now is that the juvs of the early broods (quite a lot of these @ c 4 to 6 juvs per pair per brood ie many more juvs than adults) would be dispersing, more randomly in July but by the beginning of August, starting to move south as migration kicks in. Last year I was shocked as to how frequently and how many we could count on the move at this time of year. At a guess the early broods tend to leave the breeding areas, whilst the ads stop on to have two, sometimes three broods. Thus we found that Swallow movement here was double peaked, first in August with primarily the juvs on the move, followed by the adults and younger juvs in September. Again from what I have seen in the field, or hills might be a better description round here!, Swallows can be seen moving In at least two ways, the larger groups that you describe, sometimes feeding over a water, there one minute and gone the next and this can be quite dramatic, or a more steady flow which keeps going for longer, usually straight through but sometimes feeding en-route….. Very interested in any more visible migration sightings, especially of the common birds that you may have.
Best Wishes,
Dave.

Pied fly anyone?

I know the season isn't over, but has anyone seen any pied flycatchers in Calderdale this year? We have one record of a female at the Crags, but I'm not aware of any more sightings??? Let me know if you know different

Cold Edge Dams

03/08/05 1830hrs
1 Dunlin 2 Snipe in beck 12 Swallows >SW 2 Kestrels 4 Red Grouse,these seem to be getting scarce in this area. BS.

Have all the Swallows GONE????

A visit to Withens Clough Res tonight produced approx 250+ Swallows all heading S/SW, in truth the number could have been much greater I'm trying to be conservative. They came through in 5 different waves, visit also turned up a flock of 40+ mainly goldfinches but including Greenfinches and Linnets, on wires by the Keepers house.

Along with Common Sandpiper, Mallard with 4 young, Whinchat, 2 Curlew and a personal best of 19 BH Gulls.

Streamlining. A flies eye view of an approaching Swift. Well its summat to look at int it .BS 

Peregrine Falcon

A peregrine falcon was seen to go to roost on wainhouse tower last night,