Monday, October 26, 2020

Mixenden Reservoir and plantation

 A couple of visits up there today.

Late morning a good mixed flock of passerines in the woodland above the top gate... 1 Treecreeper, 12+ Goldcrest, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 8+ Cola Tit, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Bullfinch,  10+ Blackbirds together, 1 Nuthatch, 3 Jays.
A good mix of gulls on the water - mainly Common Gulls (50+)  along with a few B H Gulls, 6 L B B Gulls and up to 10 Herring Gulls at one point. I was highly suspicious of a Yellow-legged Gull but didn't have the scope with me so I let it go. NK followed on later with a Goldeneye and also thought maybe Y L Gull.

After lunch I had another go to try and sort 'the gull'....if it was still there... BS beat me to it and got some photo's to confirm Yellow-legged Gull identity. Also the Goldeneye was still there with a Tufted Duck. A male Sparrowhawk flushed the gulls low over the water and it landed in the tree next to me - but the leaves obstructed the view for the camera.

Also chatting to BS and a chap walking his dog, he confirmed he gets up to 6 Ring-necked Parakeet on his garden feeders in Mixenden with photo's to confirm them.

Also Kingfisher on Ogden Reservoir yesterday afternoon.

2 comments:

Brian Sumner . said...

An interesting day at Mixy Dave.

Bradshaw Rambler said...

Great report and some good birds for you there Dave.
Goldeneye are always special.
GND time.
John.