Luddenden Dean

Upper Dean this morning from Jerusalem Farm via Saltonstall to the Lower Lodge to Castle Carr and return on the Midgley Moor side. Very nice to see some sunshine !

Lots of Fieldfare, Redwings and a few Blackbirds in the upper dean. Redwings certainly making the most of the holly berries.

Lots of Chaffinch, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, 2 Greenfinch, Nuthatch, 60+ Goldfinch (including c40 feeding in the top of one silver birch) and a few Brambling. All mostly near the lower lodge.

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Lumbutts Area

Lee Dam

1 Kingfisher and 2m 3f Goosander on the main dam.

Very little heard in the trees, apart from Long-tailed Tits at one point.

I did check the upper dam, and found it to be in use by a group of swimmers. I've not encountered it before, is this a regular thing here, does anyone know?


Longfield Dam

Rather less productive - apparently completely birdless apart from a few Magpies.

Well, I did get briefly excited by a white plastic object of some sort stood near a small puddle that made a very convincing Little Egret from a distance. Actually, let's make that a Cattle Egret - if you are going to be wrong, you might as well be wrong with style!

Fly Flatts, Cold Edge and Mixenden

Sideways rain and a blustery >SW this morning at Fly Flatts made scanning difficult, even from the car.
26 Canada Geese
c42 Mallard
Nothing else !

Cold Edge
17 Canada Geese

Mixenden
3 Goldeneye this morning, the previous 2 have been joined by a juvenile male.


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Fly Flatts

Atrocious conditions up there late morning, wet windy and cold !
42 Mallard
2 Canada Geese
3 Carrion Crows

Fly Flatts filling up rapidly now

Ringby Lane, Swalesmoor from yesterday
Freeezing cold wind up there, still no sign of any buntings ! I will keep trying....
1 Snipe, 80+ Starlings and 65+ Common Gulls and a L B B Gull as well as loads of corvids

Luddenden Foot - Mytholmroyd

Still fogged off on the tops so we had a change. Along the canal, café stop, and return along the riverside.
2 Dippers, one by the bridge at Luddenden Foot and one by the bridge at Mytholmroyd centre
Kingfisher on the canal in the middle of Mytholmroyd
2 Grey Heron
5 Goosander
3 Sparrowhawk
2 Nuthatch
2 Jays
c8 Long-tailed Tits
12+ Redwings and a few Blackbirds feasting on berries in the holly bushes
+ usual species

Fly Flatts and Mixenden

Fly Flatts
53 Mallard
No sign of any Golden Plover though the flock up there yesterday afternoon reached 71 ( see BS's West Yorkshire Birding blog)

Mixenden reservoir-
5 F Goosander and 2 f Goldeneye this morning.
I also checked a few traditional Waxwing spots as a few have been located on the east coast so we might have a chance in the next few weeks especially if the cold easterlies persist. No success this morning though !

19th November

Just one male Crossbill found today, also 6 Grey Partridge and a Kestrel eating a road kill dead Rabbit.

Mixenden and Ogden late afternoon

Mixenden Reservoir
2 female Goosander
Gulls carefully checked c60 B H Gulls, c40 Common Gulls, 1 L B B Gull adult

Ogden - never seen the reservoir so low
Hundreds of Black-headed and Common Gulls heading for the big roost at Thornton Moor + a few Herring gulls
c80 Mallard
1 Grey Heron
1 Green Woodpecker
1 Grey Heron
Very few finches going to roost and no sign of winter thrushes to roost other than a few Blackbirds

Walshaw

Still up to 18 Crossbills being reported in the plantation at the lower end of Walshaw Dean alongside the PennineWay. (AM BL et al)

Soil Hil

It's around twelve months since I tramped over this site out though it's evident from the small tracks up there, that one or two other hardy, dedicated birders check it out now and again.
I gave it a go this afternoon as it's always more promising up there as the weather cools down !
I didn't find much on the top but I enjoyed the challenge.
It's a shame the vegetation is now completely taken over by grasses as in the early days, after the excavators, the bare ground with emerging weeds drew in some choice birds on the summit (including Purple Sandpiper, Dotterel, Snow Buntings, Twite and Jack Snipe - to name but a few)

This afternoon
1 Snipe - I nearly trod on it before it lifted
1 Meadow Pipit
1 Blackbird
3 Starlings >N

Claremount Watch

  Claremount-:
                   
  20+ Wood Pigeon,  12 Fieldfare, 7 and then 5 Redwing,
  30+ Goldfinch, 20+ Starling and regular stuff.

 

X-mas Drinks and Pub /Bird Quiz

Tuesday 4th December , 19.30 onwards , Quiz (all things birds) at the FOX AND GOOSE , Hebden Bridge.....all welcome

https://www.facebook.com/events/2460303257329734/

Project Owl - TAWNY OWLS

https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/project-owl

BTO survey to get involved in for any volunteers.
20 minutes after dark once a week from now until 31st March 2019 from where you live, or elsewhere.
Give it a go, it's very straightforward once you get logged in. Full instructions on the site.

Ringstone Reservoir

Waders continue to turn up. Quite unprecedented in our area in November !
4 Dunlin there this afternoon (DT and AT)

Swales Moor and Mixenden reservoir

With overnight fog starting to clear I thought maybe something might have dropped on the hill top.
Nothing out of the ordinary...
1 male Reed Bunting
11 Fieldfare
1 Blackbird
8 Goldfinch
15 Meadow Pipits
2 Stock Dove
Plenty corvids, Common and B H Gulls in the freshly manured fields.

A quick check on Mixenden Reservoir drew a blank.

Ogden (yesterday) and Crimsworth Dean (today)

Afternoon check on Ogden Back Lane looking for Crossbills. Some were there on 6th October but no sign of them today. Pretty quiet up there apart from 5 Meadow Pipits and a slight movement of Herring Gulls along with a Great Spotted Woodpecker >SW.

We went up Crimsworth Dean, upper end,  from Pecket Well and up towards the top of Haworth Old Road
2 distant Common Buzzards
2 Sparrowhawks
10+ Kestrels
No sign of any thrushes though there were plenty Fieldfare's earlier on this week.
A few Goldfinch, 1 Greenfinch, a Pied Wagtail and some Chaffinch and that was about it - though it was a lovely afternoon to be out.
Loads and loads of Pheasants !

Nearly forgot...…. Song Thrush singing in Halifax Sainsbury's car park this morning. Lots of berries on the trees there so look out for thrushes etc..

Ringstone

Ringstone this morning

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit  1

Sanderling  1

Ruff  1

Golden Plover C150

Lapwing  C200

Snipe 2

Buzzard 2

Goldeneye 2

AT,PD,JM,SB,AC,DF

Cold Edge etc

Last hour - not  a lot.
Pair of Stonechats at Haigh Cote
110+ Canada Geese
Nothing on the dams other than 16 Mallard and 7 Herring Gulls >SW
500+ Fieldfares with a few Redwings in among all heading towards the roost at Castle Carr

From AC - Ruff still present at Ringstone this afternoon

Beer and Birds

A long time ago the Halifax birders used to meet at the Barge and Barrel at Elland Bridge and drink beer , have a laugh and chat about all things birds/birders..Me and Nick D are heading for the Fox and Goose (good beer )  in Hebden Bridge 8th November 2018 at 7.30 onwards , to have a few beers and talk all things birds with Hebden Bridge Birders....and other like minded folk...feel free to join us......cheers

Fly Flatts

Late morning visit..
74 Mallard
16 Greylags at north end
11 Golden Plover on the mud
1 Stonechat
2 Common Buzzards distant

 Still plenty of shoreline at Fly Flatts if any more interesting waders want to drop in !

Withens Head
2 Kestrel
1 Common Buzzard
c25 Fieldfare >towards Ogden

Ringstone

Ruff from yesterday is still there this morning from AT - and still there this afternoon.
Well done for checking again this morning Alan as I thought it would be away overnight.
Also seen by JM and GS earlier, perhaps others too.  Photo from JM below.

Ruff

 

It's always good to check local sites on a regular basis. Ably demonstrated by this find yesterday and again today. Regular checks always increase the possibility of finding something out of the ordinary. Just look at some of BS's finds at Fly Flatts over the last couple of years.!

Ringstone wader

From AT this afternoon a wader turned up briefly just at the time Alan was nearby. Waders in Calderdale are usually in short supply especially at this time of year so this was a very good find.

Ruff

Swales Moor

Checked the top on Ringby Lane yesterday afternoon and again this afternoon. Not a lot to report, pretty misty up there today but you never know what might turn up. !
There are only around half a dozen small shrubs but 9 Long-tailed Tits along with a Blue Tit was most unusual up there.
4 Pied Wagtails
18 Linnets
6 Meadow Pipits
1 Sparrowhawk
c50 Common Gulls
Loads of corvids (but no 'hoodies')

Ringstone

Some Goldeneye images from JM at Ringtone last week

Lee Mount - 4th November

Prompted by Andy's post I had an hour at daybreak this morningin the back garden. 27 species was certainly a good count for here with the highlight being c35 Brambling in the trees at the back, very flighty and calling constantly for  20 mins or so. They were feeding high up in the sycamores and, I think,  picking greenfly off the branches and tree trunk. Maybe also finding ladybird larvae as there are still plenty about.
2 Greenfinch were also welcome visitors - very scarce here nowadays
1 Nuthatch, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Blackbirds, 1 Song Thrush
A mix of Fieldfares, Redwings, Woodpigeons and Starlings all >W
3 Mallard >S
Also a nice mix of commoner species before breakfast !

Brambling..??

Yesterday in Holland there was a very large move of 65, 800 Brambling at one migration watch point, there have been good numbers seen on the Yorkshire  coast  so it may be us next , also worth keeping an eye out for Hooded Crows mixed in with local flocks of crows , there was a flock of 9 at  Flambrough last weekend..