A pleasant morning up the Hill with a smart male Whinchat to show for it, jumping along the walls and fences at the bottom of the North Slope. Also 14 Wheatear together in the fields there, as well as an additional two on Taylor Lane.
A pleasant couple of days on Soil Hill. Migrants have continued to be slow on arrival, but a couple of standout birds;
Todays highlight was an Osprey that flew north up the valley between Ned Hill Track and Ogden at 06:55.
Additionally, two Whitethroat were singing this morning, both new arrivals and my first since the first individual of the spring on the 17th. There were seven Wheatear on The Shay this morning, and a Lesser Redpoll flew over heading north.
Yesterday I found my first sitting Jack Snipe without the assistance of the thermal camera, nearly jumped out of my skin when I looked down to see these stripes sitting motionless next to my boot. This is my joint latest spring individual at this site.
Otherwise interest was limited to two adult Common Gull that flew north
2 Common Sandpiper. Also 2 at Lighthazzles and 2 at Whiteholme.
We headed up from Syke Lane near Ogden Water, towards the wind farm and the edge of Thornton Moor this afternoon. It was quite hard work with very few birds about despite the favourable conditions - no rain !!
Managed a few Meadow Pipits, 4 Curlew, 1 Lapwing, 2 Red Grouse and not a lot else. Enjoyed the walk all the same. Returning to Syke Lane it all a happened within a few minutes. An Osprey came over from ESE Bradshaw direction at 16:00. Quite high but unmistakable. Staying at the same height it continued NW over Back Lane plantation and disappeared towards Thornton Moor. Then we located a distant Barn Owl and a Little Owl in a tree. 2 hours and not much then what a last few minutes before we got back to the car.....
On 16 December 2023, in Shibden Park, I read the number of a white ring on the leg of a Black-headed Gull, and sent it to the BTO. The BTO told me it is a ring from Norway, and gave me an email address to write to.
I have had a reply from Morten Halberg of Birdlife Norway. He told me that the bird was ringed as an adult on 21 April 2021 in Stavangar on the southwest coast of Norway.
Morten also gave me a list of all the other dates and places this ring has been read. These show that the bird flew east, and then that it has been 'commuting' between Norway and the UK. The dates and places are:-
April and June 2022: Oslo, Norway - 190 miles east of Stavangar
December 2022: Shibden Park, UK
April and May 2023: Oslo
November + December 2023 and January (4th) 2024: Shibden Park
