Luddenden Foot etc

8 Swifts and c30 House Martins high over the woodland just beyond the railway. Then 6 Grey Wagtails alongside the river and canal. Also a Chiffchaff singing.

Whiteholme from MH - 8 Ringed Plover and 2 Common Sandpipers.

Whiteholme - 26th August

Quite a breezy afternoon but warm and bright sunshine.

Started off well with a Whinchat on the fence near the small parking spot on Turvin Road.

Whinchat

The prospect for finding the recent waders looked disappointing with disturbance on the shoreline. Let's try the NE corner, still no waders though 5 Wheatear and a few Meadow Pipits were feeding off the big rocks and the shoreline foam.

A single Greenshank flushed from one of the ponds but dropped in again well out of sight behind the vegetation. Three Ravens went high and a few Swallows headed into the wind and over the moor.

Whiteholme

Grey Wagtail

Greenshank (Thanks MH)

Snipe

Peregrine and Kestrel (I'd wondered why all the waders suddenly vanished)

Also: Common Sandpiper 1, Dunlin 2, Ringed Plover 2, Wheatear 4

Todays news - 23rd August

Common Redstart on the fence line along Back Lane, Ogden this afternoon. Also Swallows in abundance around Ogden's Giants Tooth/ Ovenden Moor with juveniles crowding the fence lines and feeding frency with Black-headed Gulls above them on the emerging insects.

Little Grebe at Lower Gorple (JS)

2 Yellow Wagtails briefly at Ringstone (PD LD)

Latest news - Whiteholme Res'r

From yesterday BL and MH. 

Persistence pays off !

1 Wood Sandpiper, 30 Ringed Plover, 8 Dunlin and a juv Greenshank

Todays update from Whiteholme - 23rd August

32 Ringed Plover, 11 Dunlin and 5 Greenshank (MH)

Withens Clough

We did a reservoir circuit this afternoon. A little breezy, cooler than of late and very pleasant to be out and about. Always checking last years Black Redstart spots, but no luck on that score and no Stonechats today.

Swallows still busy around the barn and Goldfinches nearby on the thistles with a Wheatear working the stone walls.

Masses of shoreline, never seen it so low, not a sign of any waders that we were hoping for. 

1 Tufted Duck, c15 Mallard, c130 Canada Geese and a real surprise in the small silt trap pond at the top of the res'r was an adult Little Grebe. 4 Black-headed Gulls and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull on the shore and 2 Kestrels working the ridge.

Just one butterfly, a Wall Brown was a surprise on a dandelion flower.

Carr's Beck and Hunter Hill

This morning there were 2 Common Redstarts showing, very briefly, in the hedge. Adult male and the other looked like a juvenile male. I waited a good while but they did not re-appear though there is lots of suitable habitat on the edge of the golf course.

Along Hunter Hill there were c100 hirundines in the shelter of the valley. Mostly Swallows with lots of juveniles on the fence lines. Also maybe 20 or so House Martins. Difficult, well impossible, to get an accurate count.

Also a single Curlew arrived and landed briefly on the hill then headed off high >E calling.

Todmorden area - 20th August

Welcome information and sightings from MC yesterday

A Whinchat with Stonechats near Lower Hawk Stones Farm and a Yellow Wagtail in field just above Greenhurst  Hay Farm. Both places in a circular Bridestones walk. 

Scarce records for Mick this year and for Calderdale and very much appreciated for the records. Habitats up there looking promising for a number of scarce Calderdale species.

Thanks Mick - greatly appreciated the records came to us thanks to BS.

Beacon Hill

Whitethroat 1.  Also:--

Fly Flats

Just got there in  time to view BS's Turnstone which appears to have arrived in the mist up there this morning along with Ringed Plover and a Redshank. Managed to scope the bird from the top road. It was associating with a single Ringed Plover far out on the mud - then I lost it just as AC arrived. Tried hard to re-find it but there are masses of shoreline and had to give it up after another hours search. 

In the meantime another wader turned up - so distant that AC legged it down to the north track and managed to get a photo clear enough to confirm a Golden Plover - a scarce bird up here nowadays.

Turnstone only my third record for Calderdale in the last 10 years, all singles at Fly Flats  7/5/15 and 12/8/19.

This afternoon at Ogden the best bird was a Kingfisher down in the sluice looking for fish in the pond.

Ogden Water and golf course.

Found very little this morning around the res'r  -  went to check for waders given the very low water levels and exposed shoreline. No waders but the gathering of gulls continues with c100 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 8 adult Herring Gulls, 4 adult Common Gulls and 20+ Black-headed Gulls. Woodland very quiet. 

A Spotted Flycatcher was good to see in one of the golf course gully's catching fly's from the tops of rowans. Another Spotted Flycatcher was in Carrs Beck along with a striking male Common Redstart. A family group of 5 Whitethroat were enjoying the feast in blackberry bushes. Willow Warblers and Blackcap were flitting about in the hawthorn bushes with a few Linnets and Goldfinch nearby. Plenty Swallows about but no sign of any Swifts today.

A drake Common Scoter was at Fly Flats - thanks to BS.

Scammonden area

 

A few hours this morning with JB  produced , 2 Spot Fly , 1 Redstart , 9 Stonechat , Blackcap 7 , Whitethroat 9 , Willow Warbler 11 , Chiffchaff 17 + , Whimbrel calling heading s/w , + Green + GS Woodpecker , Nuthatch , Bullfinch 5 , Sprwk etc..

Blackstone Edge

Ringed Plover 1 juvenile. Head and breast markings brown

Dunlin 1 juvenile. The plain head is striking

Ringed Plover 6 adults

Wheatear 1

Kestrel female

Withens Head - 7th August.

 Just a check for Black Redstart but drew a blank there at this occasional, yet traditional migrant stop !

2 each of Wheatear, Stonechats, Kestrels, Swallows and Pied Wagtails late afternoon.

Shibden Valley

50 House Martins, (plus 5 Swallows - 3 ad, 2 juv). The outstretched wing in the close-up is brown, ageing the bird as juvenile.

Blackstone Edge

Little Egret 2. Flew west at 1045

Shibden Park

2 adult Little Grebes

Ogden Water - 5th Aug.

  This afternoon - not a lot that I wouldn't expect.

1 Great Crested Grebe - looked from a distance like an adult in winter plumage

c110 Lesser Black-backed Gulls 85% adults with lots to and fro to bathe, rest and preen.

3 adult Herring Gulls, 2 adult Common Gulls and around 30+ Black-headed Gulls.

2 Cormorants, pair Bullfinch, 3 Willow Warblers and 1 Sparrowhawk hunting low along the perimeter footpaths.

Beacon Hill

Little Owl: 2 juveniles

Blackstone Edge

Stonechat juvenile

Hebden Water

2 Dippers, 200m apart

Ringstone Edge

2 Continental Cormorants, P c sinensis. The rear edge of the yellow gular patch drops vertically from the gape.

This race is less bulky on average than British Cormorant, P c carbo. 

Cormorants seem to me to be much more common in Calderdale than they were 30 years ago. If this is a real increase, it is likely to be of sinensis, because they breed inland while carbo breed on the coast. It could be that most of the Cormorants we see now are P c sinensis. But we don't know this, because identifying Cormorants to race does not seem to interest many birders. (This does need a side-on photograph).

Ringstone Edge

Curlew: calling adult with juvenile.

Adult

Juvenile

Undisclosed location

Long-eared Owl

This is a different bird from the one photographed on 16 July. The belly streaks are thinner.  And where the upper face disc of the other bird is mainly orange, here it is mainly grey. Also, this bird was quite tame. It could be the young bird that was heard calling 5 days ago? It was only 100m from where the calls were heard, and no hunger calls were heard today.

Cold Edge

Tufted duck with 5 young

2 Scaup (14 July)

I've posted these photos because it is interesting to compare Tufted Duck and Scaup when plumage is no help telling them apart. Of the Scaup photos on 14 July, no. 5 is too distant to be useful, and nos. 1-3 are clear cut: no Tufted has a bill like those birds have. But the birds in photo no. 4 (reposted above) are more problematic:

- they have no tuft, but today's Tufted has none either (? moulted) - it does not even have a 'bump' on the nape;

- these Scaup's bills from the side are less massive than those in photos 1-3: they look similar to the Tufted's: they are probably broader but we cannot see that: (do female Scaup have smaller bills than males?);

- so (apart from their being with definite Scaups) it comes down to head profile: the highest point on the Tufted's crown is about half way along, and there is a slight bend at the nape - giving the head a squarish shape: in the Scaups the highest point on the crown is further forward - just behind the eye - and then the crown, nape, and hindneck curve smoothly downwards with no interruption - so the head does not look square.

Finally, a very useful thing I've noticed is that, when diving, Scaups tend to spend far longer under water than a Tufted Duck ever does.

Undisclosed location

Long-eared Owl adult. Repeated 'hunger calls' were heard, (first heard and identified by NK). Presumably the calls were from a hidden juvenile.

Cold Edge

Scaup: 4 juveniles

Cold Edge

Tufted Duck: 2 broods. Female + 3 young, female + 5 young

Cold Edge

Black-tailed Godwit

Halifax Railway Station

Goldcrest fledgling