Soil Hill, Ringstone Edge & Cromwell Bottom

   Had an enjoyable day out birding around Halifax with Harry Coghill. We started at Soil Hill (of course) where we flushed two Jack Snipe, had a flyover Golden Plover, a heard-only Redpoll and two Raven blogging in glorious conditions above the fog.

  Whilst there a message came through from DF that there were two drake Pintail on Ringstone, which would have been a Calderdale tick for us both. So we finished off our loop around the Hill before heading over. Upon arriving at Ringstone we quickly found the Pintails in the middle of the reservoir, with two drakes and two females sadly never coming close. In addition, a pair of Wigeon was close to the willows on the north bank.

-Pintail

  Now midday we decided to head over to Cromwell Bottom for a Calderdale tick of Scaup for HC. We arrived but couldn't spot any Scaup from La Casa so headed down to the canal bank. From one of the spots where it is possible to view through the fence we managed to pick out the Aythya flock at the western end of the lake but viewing was nearly impossible. We did manage to pick out the female Scaup, but couldn't make out the male. At least four Goldeneye were also on the lake, along with four Coot.

  Whilst we were watching we spotted a group of four ducks come in from the west and circle the lake. Although we only caught the end of the group, we noticed that the first bird was certainly a drake Wigeon. Fortunately, the group looped around and we were shocked to see the other three birds in the group were female Pintails, so a different group to Ringstone. They looped high above the lake three times, before heading off southwest, although the Wigeon later returned and landed on the lake. 

-Pintail & Wigeon

We finished off the day with a visit to Jay House Lane, but failed to find any Tree Sparrows. 

In total managed 32 species at Soil Hill, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S206721238

In total managed 14 species at Ringstone Edge, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S206725297

In total managed 32 species at Cromwell Bottom, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S206733532

Shibden Park

Single Mute Swan still here. The knob at the base of the bill is a little more swollen than in the photo of 5 November - suggesting that the bird is a male?

Stump Cross

3 Greenfinches: a welcome sight

Short -toed Eagle..Accepted by the BBRC

 

Whiteholme

 1 of 3 Ravens. I still sometimes have difficulty separating Raven from Carrion Crow when a flying or perched bird is seen against the sky, from the side, and there is nothing nearby for size comparison. There is not a vast size difference between a large Crow bill and a small Raven bill. The new photographic 'ID Handbook of European Birds' mentions a useful Raven feature that can be seen well in the lower photo of this bird (which has a small bill for a Raven): "the distal part of the upper mandible is strongly curved".

Red -throated Diver

 Red -throated Diver in Hebden Bridge today for its second day..Mayroyd Marina and Falling Royd...

Latest news

Still no news of the Slavonian  Grebe following the recent frost and icing on the lake at Lee Dam where it stayed for a good while. Several check have been made by several observers at the dam and nearby water bodies including the River Calder and the Rochdale Canal.

A lot of interest today with another Calderdale rarity. A Red-throated Diver found in a most unexpected location - the marina at Hebden Bridge where it appears to have stayed most of the day. Later reported on the canal and the river. As far as I know the last report was of if it drifting down towards Mytholmroyd so it could well be worth looking for tomorrow or the next day or two.