Waxwings

Circa 12 waxwings showing well this afternoon on Stansfield Close.  They were roosting in some sycamores at the cul de sac end of the close and were putting in some periodic sorties to their favoured rowan.

Stansfield Close - Hanson Lane

Still a few Waxwings about (6+) at Stansfield Close area at 11:00 - but worth checking other areas of Hanson Lane and Pellon Lane as they are very mobile. Patience needed at times though the favoured tree is just in Stansfield Close on the right.
PG DJS and Pauline (hope you got some nice shots) ! from Keighley.

Yesterdays Waxwing in Action

             A few more pics from yesterday of the Waxwing, I hope
             they're still there as have not heard anything today.
             A Ring-Necked Parakeet was seen up Queensbury today
             in the Shaw Lane area by NK.

Soil Hill

Mid afternoon check up there 'thinking maybe'... Snow Bunting with BS but we drew a blank. Just a couple of Meadow Pipits on the top and a Blackbird.
It's a shame the previous bare gravelly areas are more or less all overgrown now other than one or two small spots and some sparse bare areas on the track and the mounds. Lets hope there is just enough to tempt them in soon.

Flighty Waxwing

 

            Waxwings still at Stansfield Close but very flighty, it was
            nice to meet some other birders up there as well, DS.DW.PD.BH
            and a fella from Huddersfield, got to be honest I thought they were
            Starlings in flight with the light being low until they settled on a
            nearby tree. What a find and what a beautiful bird.
            also 6 Blackbird, 2 Mistle Thrush and 12+ House Sparrows were
            present on the close and 10+ Starling and 2 Great Tit.
       

Waxwing photos from John Sykes - Stansfield Close, Hanson Lane

Waxwings Hanson Lane

Second time lucky.22 Waxwings at Stansfield Close, Hanson Lane today including one with a ring on.

Hanson Lane , Halifax

Waxwings still at Stansfield Close area today with up to around 20 still present till at least 14.35. GWD and SB

Hanson Lane

15 Waxwings Hanson Lane at st augustines centre. ( SB ) around 11:30 this morning.

Update _ 28 BIRDS in and around Stansfield Close mid afternoon showing very well. AH

Mixenden and Ogden

Mixenden Res'r - f Goldeneye and a f Wigeon

Ogden - Kingfisher at the top end and not a lot else. Good to see Nigel up there doing the rounds as well though conditions were very wet this morning !

Claremount Hill

          A walk for an Hour around Claremount Hill
          on a cold & dismal morning produced-:
          4 Whooper Swans ( flyover )
          5 Robins
          2 Goldfinch
          2 Goldcrest
          8 Blackbirds
          10 Rook
         1 Wren
          3 Grey Partridge
          Gulls, Jackdaws, Crows & Magpies.
          Pied Wagtail

          Garden -:

          1 Robin
          6 Goldfinch
          2 Mistle Thrush
          8 Starlings
          2 Blackbird

Ogden and Mixenden

Ogden
Kingfisher and Dipper in the usual spot - the ponds by the pump house below the embankment mid-morning.
Not a lot else around other than 127 Mallard, c40 Black-headed Gulls, 10 Common Gulls and 1 Herring Gull.
Hard to find any passerines anywhere with the snow falling !

Mixenden Reservoir
Just 1 female Goldeneye and a few Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls and one Herring Gull
::
Ovenden Way - no sign of yesterdays Waxwings (checked at  08:30 by AH) and still no sign late morning.

Ogden etc...

Ogden
I went to see if the pair of Pintail were still about but couldn't find them in the pouring rain !
c20 Canada Geese
c80 Mallard
2 female Teal
1 Kingfisher and a Dipper in the pump house ponds area below the embankment (viewed from the promenade with binoculars)

Mixenden Reservoir
Just a few Black-headed Gulls and 2 Common Gulls
1 Grey Wagtail

Fly Flats
Nothing except sideways rain !

King Cross
After a report this morning from AH of c12 possible Waxwings flying towards Sowerby Bridge about 08:30 - I went to check later morning. No Waxwings found but there are numerous Sorbus sp... loaded with berries in that area alongside the main road near the big traffic junction and Fire Station and near Tesco etc.
Well worth keeping an eye in that area.
Also this afternoon from Andy - at least 2 Waxwings in Ovenden Way - half way up on the left hand side around 15:30. Well worth a check there tomorrow - or anywhere else with berries on trees !

Fly Flats

Appalling conditions up there this morning with a rain driving >NW making viewing pretty tricky !
2 Carrion Crows
1 Canada Goose
c40 Mallard
3 x second-winter Herring Gulls >N - they don't seem to be phased at all by bad weather.!

Ogden

Pair of great looking Pintail at Ogden near the duck feeding area. Found by CK on Sunday morning -quite a rarity for Calderdale. When we were there today they would not waken up.! BS has some nice shots on his West Yorkshire Birding blog.
Not a lot else at Ogden other than 2  fem Goldeneye briefly and a flock of maybe up to 50  Chaffinch  on the weedy res'r bankings at the top end of reservoir.

Wrecked seabird. No corpse available.

A seabird thought to be Manx Shearwater was picked up alive outside Walsden on 2nd November, along Rochdale Road towards Summit.

The finder took it to Hirds Vets near there where they tried to feed it on fish.

Halifax branch of Hirds vet passed it on to the Creature Comforts animal-aid man, but despite his best efforts at rehabiltation, it died. I persuaded him to dig it up from where he had buried it but he couldn't find it.

Last record I can find is one in 1962 found exhausted at Causeway Foot and later released at Ogden Reservoir.

There are several old records before this.

13th Nov

Walshaw Dean, 5 or 6 Crossbills still in the plantation, 1 Stonechat, 2 Buzzards and a flock of 30 Twite reported by MKF. Lower Gorple, unidentified pipit, suspect Rock or Water on call but nearly dark when seen, Dipper and 5 Herring Gulls. BL reports at least 9 Crossbills at Sunderland Pasture above Withens Clough today. Above photo by DF today at Walshaw.

Edge Lane, Colden. Early pm

- 4 little owl
- 1 common buzzard
- 21 fieldfare
- 1 kestrel
- 1 herring gull

12th Nov

Roils Head today, 1 male Stonechat, 10 Redwings, 1 Grey Partridge at Tower Hill and a Snipe at Highroad Well Moor (4 yesterday). Also had 9 unidentified ducks flying north over Queensbury, over Ogden and towards Thornton Moor.

Fly Flats and Cold Edge

Early afternoon
Fly Flats
4 Teal

Cold Edge
9 Wigeon
2 Tufted Duck

Ogden

It seemed fairly quiet first thing with nothing on the water other than the usual Mallard and 27 Canada Geese.
The Canadas were feeding on the shoreline weed fringe along with c30 Chaffinch.

Elsewhere the Tit flock was proving pretty elusive though I eventually tracked them down high in the canopy of the pine woodland where I was looking for Woodcock - but drew a blank there!
There were 30+ birds in the roving flock - unusually the most prominent bird being Goldcrests.

Mixenden Reservoir

Thought it might be worth a check this morning in the wintry showers. Never know what might turn up at this time of year !
1 f Goosander
2 Teal
1 f Goldeneye
65 mixed gulls - Black-headed and Commons with - 1 ad Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Ogden

First thing this morning from BS - 9 Whooper Swans left >E just as Brian arrived about 07:45.

Todays news

 9 Whooper Swans (including 3 juvs) on Baitings Reservoir found early afternoon (PG). They were still there when I called and were close in at 15:40 - then dogs appeared on the shoreline and they were off towards Ryburn and I lost them behind the trees so don't know if they went down there or towards Ringstone or Booth Wood Reservoir or moved off altogether.(?)

Still a few Crossbills, but mobile, at Walshaw Dean and nearby plantations (MH et al)

Report of a Little Egret around 13:30  >NW over above Cottonstones area (JG) so maybe heading towards Cragg Vale or the Calder Valley (?)

c300 Golden Plover in freshly manured fields at Ringstone along with a good number of Lapwing, Starlings and Black-headed Gulls - worth keeping an eye on that area but it's mostly a scope job to pick anything unusual out of the hoards of birds.!

Kingfisher at Ogden

                Kingfisher showed well today at Ogden even tho the
                lighting for pics was terrible, only seen one before at
                Ogden down by the promenade at long distance, no
                Mandarin ducks today or if they were there I didn't
                spot them.

Skircoat Green

A report of around 12 Waxwings this morning in the St Anne's area of Skircoat Green (from CS via SB)

Fruitful Day

       

            Mandarins at Ogden today was a nice surprise after a tip off
            from DS and NK who I bumped into near the lake, we then
            hoped we'd seen the Northern Treecreeper, NK seemed to
            think it was as I haven't a clue, to me it was just a Treecreeper
            but It'd be nice if it was the Northern one.
            Had a check and the Northern bird is more grey than brown and has
            a much shorter bill, so I'll just have to keep looking.
       

                                         

                                          Mandarin

                                          Fieldfare

                                          Treecreeper

Walshaw Dean

From Martyn H - 2 female Crossbill's showing this morning at the plantation - with still one bird showing very prominent wing-bar. !

Ogden

I went looking again for BS's 'northern' Treecreeper after we had a possible sighting late yesterday afternoon - though the light was poor in the area above the top end eastern bridge.
I did find 3 Treecreeper's this morning in different parts of the woodland but they certainly weren't the 'northern' form 'familiaris'. All three showed only very pale supercilium and buff flanks unlike the photo of BS's bird.
There were no large 'tit' flocks found as most passerines seemed to be scattered about in various parts of the woodland.
2 Crossbills flew over calling - the male showing brilliant crimson and I had another real bonus bird  taking off right in front of me - a Woodcock flushed in the boggy bracken covered woodland.
A Kingfisher called as it was disturbed from the top pond by the east-end bridge and flew down the reservoir.
Other birds included Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Nuthatch, Bullfinch, and Goldcrests in good supply. 8 Fieldfare moved across the moor and Blackbirds were feeding on Rowan and Holly berries.

A call from NK as I got home as he'd found a pair of Mandarin Duck on the shoreline.

Recent news

c300 Golden Plover at Ringstone this morning (PG and AT)
Common Scoter female type at Ringstone last Sunday 30th Oct (DF)

7 Wigeon on Withens Clough Reservoir (Cragg Vale) earlier today (PG) and at least 40 Brambling with Chaffinch's in the woodland up the track from the reservoir car park

Cold Edge (PJWS) 4 Teal, 5 Tufted Duck and a Cormorant this morning

Several reports of Crossbills in the Walshaw plantation area during the last week or so (MH et al) and a 1,000 + Starlings in that area yesterday.

Also see Brian's blog fro 19th Oct regarding the possibility of a Northern Treecreeper there last week and photographed by BS. A great record that Bri whether or not accepted by the powers that be !

Claremount Pinkies

               Skein of Pink Footed Geese flew over Claremount today at about
               9.20.
             

Mixenden, Stodfold and Ogden

94 Pink-footed Geese >E over Mixenden Reservoir this morning at 08:45 - estimated at c130 (must try harder)!! but thanks to the photo I got an accurate count.

 94 Pink-footed Geese

Sparrowhawk - adult male Ogden

Hunter Hill watch-point - not a lot moving - just a few Fieldfare, Redwing and Woodpigeons but not a lot else other than the geese.
Mixenden Reservoir
2 f Goldeneye
1 Green Woodpecker
1 Great-spotted Woodpecker
Small mixed tit flock with a few Goldcrests

Ogden golf course
1 Little Owl
1 Kestrel

Ogden Reservoir
1 Dipper in  the pump-house pond but not much else about

Cold Edge

Not a lot doing up there this afternoon though the day was very nice with the sunshine and cooling temperature.
We met a friend on the way up who told us about a massive flock of Starlings he had seen along Cold Edge Road/Withens Road. We soon located them (thinking we were on our way to Leighton Moss) !!From the photos I tried  a count - which is fairly impossible so a guestimate below  !!!
There were probably around 3,800 birds altogether - with 1,400 birds in part of the flock which streamed down towards Wainstalls (lower picture). Then another flock of nearer 2,400 birds below the Hazelhurst Farms.

(click photos to enlarge)

 

I think this is most unusual to get such a large flock in our area at this time of year though we sometimes get flocks of post fledging birds at the end of summer which usually disperse fairly quickly.

Also nearby..

2 Stonechats near Withens Head Farm

2 Barnacle Geese

1 Greylag Goose

3 Wigeon (lower pond)

1 Snipe

1 Kestrel

 

Good to meet Nick and Phil up there doing the rounds as well.

 

Swales Moor

Some massive flocks of Woodpigeons heading >W and >SW this morning between 09:00 and 10:15 with a total in excess of 7,000 birds. All very high heading over in wave after wave with some flocks 300+ strong. Hard to get the scale of it from photos as the flocks are not tightly packed like Starlings and thrushes.

Also a few other moving birds including again mostly >W and >SW
22 Redwings
15 Fieldfare
1 Blackbird
1 Song Thrush
3 Mistle Thrush
27 Chaffinch
3 Greenfinch
2 Sparrowhawks
2 Jays
I probably missed a good few smaller birds whilst concentration on the woodpigs !

If conditions are right in the morning, and maybe the next week or two, there could be another big movement of Woodpigeons early on (?)

Crossbills

Flock of 17+ Common Crossbills at Walshaw Dean Plantation today. Record shots digi scoped in poor conditions, note one of the males is sporting 2 wing bars, first time Ive seen this in Common.

Bradley Hall Farm area

Male Mandarin with a pair of Mallards on the river by the Corn Mill pub.
Male Goosander downstream at Colnebridge.
Redwings 'all over' in the bushes /trees around Bradley Hall.
No sign of Yellowhammers for a while down there.

Cold Edge and Ogden

Cold Edge Dams, 2 Barnacle Geese, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Teal, 1 Tufted Duck, 2 Buzzards and a Raven. Not much doing at Ogden just a Cormorant, Herring Gull and a few Lessers.

Driven Grouse shooting - Calderdale RSG submission to Parliamentary debate.

Please see the link below to read the excellent submission to the parliamentary debate on banning driven grouse shooting submitted by CRSG chair Steve Downing.
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/petitions-committee/grouse-shooting/written/40051.html