Scammonden 09/12/10

Paid a visit late on yesterday afternoon to see if any gulls were roosting as they did for a period of time last winter whist Blackmoorfoot was frozen, which it currently is once again.

Around 2000 small gulls were in the roost at 16:20hrs, 1600 Black-headed Gull & 400 Common Gull present, no Lesser Black-backed or any of the larger gulls at all and I couldn't find Nick's Med Gull either!

It is interesting that the Blackmoorfoot gull roost in early December hosts between 5000 & 6000 gulls yet only 2000 gulls like the look of Scammonden which is completely ice free incidently.I wonder where the other 4000 or so go?

Not many other birds to report although 5 Mute Swan (3 adults and 2 juveniles) was a bit of a shock up there, it just shows how desperate things are when lowland waters freeze over for some waterbirds. I have a feeling that this is the largest number of Mute Swan I personally have seen in the Calderdale area..



3 Wigeon (2 males and 1 female) were near the southern inlet, one of the males frequently whistling which I think is always a great sound to hear.



To complete the picture 2 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Cormorant were also on the water.

Earlier on I nipped down to Elland Gravel Pits which sadly has only a very small area of open water left and not surprisingly no sign of the Scaup which is a real shame as I for one would have been really interested to observe any plumage changes unfold.

Someone posted last Sunday on Birdguides (after my post on here, which didn't surprise me as it seemed to happen quite a bit last winter with my Great Northern Diver posts in particular) that the bird was a 1st winter male, but I personally do not think from photographs or views obtained that the sex or age of this bird for that matter could have been confirmed with any degree of certainty at this stage.

Anyhow almost forgot to mention after that, I flushed a Woodcock down there!