Thursday, October 11, 2007

Woodpeckers

I bagged all three species of woodpecker on my walk down the canal towpath and Cromwell Bottom this morning. First was Lesser seen in its usual haunts (usual as in 2 or 3 times a year!)on the dead trees at "Rawsons Pool" on the canal towpath below Knowles Pipeworks. Great was seen and heard calling near Freemans Bridge on the Water Ski lake side of the canal bank. Green was heard calling on Tag Loop at Cromwell Bottom. This walk is an excellent walk if you want to watch Roe deer as they move around this area regularly, its not unusual to see them swim across the canal one way or the other. Has anyone any tips for finding Lesser spotted ? I have only ever seen them by chance in the Rawsons Pool area mentioned above as I walk the area most days and always check the dead trees in this area in the hope of spotting one. The only time I have ever seen them regularly was when I had feeders up in the garden and they regularly came to feed on lard and peanuts. I no longer feed in the garden as my neighbour now has three very active bird hunting cats and I didn't want to set up a feeding station for them rather than the birds !

The Goosanders have all disappeared from the Calder near Cromwell Bottom at the moment and the two Cormorants that appeared a few weeks back on the Ski Lake have also gone elsewhere at the moment.
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6 comments:

Alf King said...

Where exactly is Rawson's Pool Paul, in relation to the various bridges?

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the pipeworks.

3:49 pm
Goldon Gordon said...

Alf/ You get onto the canal by Park Nook lock just above the Colliers Arms pub on Park Road. Walk downstream towards Brighouse, after around 200 yards or so the canal widens out. The "wide bit" is Rawsons Pool, the far bank used to be a landing area where barges loaded and unloaded for the pipe works up above it on Elland road. Quite often Shire cruisers and other holidays will moor here overnight. There are various dead trees, mainly Birch, scattered here on the far bank. As long as I can remember its been an area where you can spot Lesser Spotted. I have seen them here 3 times in almost 12 months so its not exactly a hot spot :-)) Its a nice walk down the canal towpath anyway with lots of birds, deer to see, especially during the week when its quiet

4:49 pm
Alf King said...

Thanks Paul. I know exactly where you mean now. I shall keep my eyes peeled in future.

7:08 pm
Nick Carter said...

I remember this area being a site for LSW many years ago.

10:12 pm
David Sutcliffe said...

Well done Paul - it's a day to remember when you get all three peckers.

11:49 pm
Goldon Gordon said...

As an aside to the pecker report. The behaviour of Lesser and Greater at feeders in my garden a few years back was a surprise to me (maybe not to anyone else !). Greats arrived from a nearby trees after surveying the garden for some time, they fed on the lard blocks and peanuts but were obviously very nervous and as soon as they spotted me moving in the window they flew away and did not return. Lesser on the other hand simply appeared to feed, were obviously much more confident on the feeders and paid me no attention whatsoever even if I opened the door to get clearer views of them. Had I had a decent camera at the time could have taken lots of clear close ups of the Lesser, but this was in the pre-digital age and film was expensive and my camera crap.

6:45 am

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