Out and about !

Very wet day but chanced an hour or so out, turned out to be a good move.
Mixenden Reservoir
Pouring down - just a female Goldeneye there, a Cormorant and a few Black-headed and Common Gulls

Cold Edge
Still pouring so scanned from the car !
2 Barnacle Geese still there in the fields with the Canada flock and the lone Pink-footed Goose still with the domestics.

Fly Flatts - fogged off and heavy rain when I got there but there looked to be some breaks in the fog and it eventually cleared but still raining pretty hard.
1 Redshank at the north-east end along with a few Lapwing and Curlew, a few paired up Canada's and a solitary Mallard and plenty Red Grouse.
I was just heading home when BS turned up so I got a couple of shots off on the way - I said I would get my own back one day !

 Fly Flatts (Warley Moor Reservoir) > NW

 

 Looking >SW

 

 Lone birder (BS)

 

with 'Big Bertha' at the ready !

 

 

On the way past Mount Tabor a small raptor flew across the road chasing after what looked like a flock of Goldfinch. It disappeared over Woodlesford as I stopped, then fortunately it returned hunting at speed low across the fields - female Merlin. Always a special bird.

Widdop Reservoir.

Walked along the North shore then up, over the road, and along the escarpment.

The garden of the reservoir house alive with passerines; Tit species, Greenfinches (c.10), Mistle Thrush, Reed Buntings 4, Robin, Starling singing, Male Chaffinches.
Many Canada Geese but no Greylags till we were climbing the valley side when six came flying fast past us, up to the gap in the horizon and over into Lancashire. Later two Greylags chasing around below us in flight. Looked like a male and female.

On the escarpment a Buzzard and its food source - rabbits running for the rocks. Then a sound like a Golden Plover but with a warble to it several times. Later the familiar Golden Plover sound - the single whistle. On looking up the sound on www.xeno-canto.org it turns out to be the song of the Golden Plover, which I've not heard so well before, if ever.

Two Curlews silently overhead and of course many Red Grouse. Bizarrely, what appears to be part of a grouse wing hanging from a wire near the car park.

Frogspawn - my first! - in a rut in the path by the reservoir, but no toads yet  where they breed in the collection channel. Toads have been moving at lower levels and the Toad Patrols have been out one night so far (Saturday 10th March) in Todmorden and Sowerby.

Ice breaking up on Widdop Reservoir

No bird photos today but got this obliging Treecreeper by the river near Luddendenfoot park last weekend. 

Ringstone

From this morning - a single Whooper Swan on the reservoir (AT and PG)

Cold Edge

2 Barnacle Geese with c120 Canada Geese and  2 Greylag's this afternoon and the single Pink-footed Goose is still in with the domestic wildfowl
The ponds were still frozen over with just a little clear water on the top dam (above)
1 Moorhen
2 Raven >SW
2 Little Owl
c140 Starlings but no sign of any winter thrushes
Lots of Red Grouse vocal on the moor
A few waders including an Oystercatcher, c20 Lapwing, 4+ Curlew and 11 Golden Plover flyovers >Hunter Hill
Enjoyed a little sunshine as well - for a change !

Mytholmroyd

Over the garden this morning, must have been moved off erringden moor

12 skylark

4 snipe 

Swales Moor (Ringby Lane)

Certainly a 'welly' job this afternoon up there - what a mess, with piled up snow and the track into a stream of muddy water and slush.
The top field opposite the metal fence produced the best birds with 5 Skylark, 15 Meadow Pipits and
1 Pied Wagtail in there.
1 Sparrowhawk showed 3 times putting the birds up but nothing unusual among them.
1 adult lesser Black-backed Gull was loafing around as well as c35 Common Gulls and a few corvids - mainly Jackdaws (60+) but strangely hardly any Carrion Crows (most unusual) !
6 Herring Gulls went straight over >W
19 Redwings passed over high >E
1 Fox

Mixenden Reservoir

No sign of the weekend's Dunlin today even though there was a little more shoreline showing than yesterday. Best I could find there was a Pair of Goosander, a few Back-headed and Common Gulls and one adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.
5  Herring Gulls went straight through >W
1 Grey Wagtail.

One Dunlin was however found at Ringstone Reservoir this morning (PG)

Ring Necked Parakeets (again)

Three over Dixie Woods, Sowerby Bridge yesterday to go with a couple last week. I hadn't seen any for some time in our area but two sightings in two visits now.

Ogden Garden

Awoke this morning to find three roe deer in the garden.

Jumble Hole

2 woodcock and oddly two snipe have all been flushed separately over the last few days here, largely due to the bad weather. The first was a snipe sat in the middle of the snow covered lane as I drove up. I had to stop the car, and it eventually flew off. Another snipe was flushed from a leafy stream at the side of the road two days later.
The dogs flushed a woodcock off the Pennine Way the following day (showing how significantly larger they are), and one flew across the garden last night.

The same thing happened in 2009 during a particularly cold spell, when a woodcock was sat in the hen run!

Goose on a Golf Course

Birds turn up in odd places in bad conditions, this farm yard white Greylag type was on the 5th tee of West End Golf Course this afternoon. Also had a Cormorant fly north at Roils Head, only 2nd or 3rd time Ive seen one here.

Mixenden Reservoir

3 Dunlin still there this morning though mobile at times when walkers/dogs pass by ! Two were first seen at the north end this morning then later when I left at 12:30 they were on the stones at the south landing/slipway.

38 Mallard
2 Cormorants
1 Goldeneye (female)

Ryburn and Calder

2 Ring necked Parakeets over the Calder in Sowerby Bridge this week. Yesterday I flushed 3 Snipe whilst walking the dog near the Ryburn at Triangle.

Mixenden Reservoir

Freezing conditions and a strong easterly wind this afternoon. Thought I'd give it a try as some of the best birds turn up in bad weather. I wasn't disappointed !

3 Dunlin by the inlet at the north end was a real surprise. They were, at first, right on the edge of the water under a ledge of snow and I could easily have missed them. They are very scarce in Calderdale in winter though over the years we have had one or two records, usually in bad weather. I can recall a find by NK at Ogden on Christmas Eve a few years ago 24th December 2009. That was a very confiding bird right down by the duck feeding area.

Nice to see Dunlin in grey-ish winter plumage with a clean white belly as when seen in summer they are much browner upper plumage with black belly patches.

I only had the bridge camera today and didn't get too close so as not to disturb them feeding on the snow line and waters edge. I left them at around 15:30 though BS hot-footed it there shortly afterwards - but they had gone. Problem at this site is that regular disturbance soon displaces the birds. Bad luck Bri.

Dunlin

Also on the reservoir

A good count of 44 Mallard sheltering under the embankment

4 Cormorant

21 Canada Geese

1 female Goldeneye

1 Moorhen

c60 Black-headed Gulls

c10 Common Gulls

Nothing found in the plantation - everything blown away !!





Hebblefoot today

I learned its proper name (Hebblefoot) in an old article. Like Brookfoot and Luddendenfoot, it denotes the spot where a tributary stream joins the River Calder.

Others may know it as the Calder and Hebble junction, or the Salterhebble Canal Basin area.

Heron
Song Thrush
Meadow Pipit  2 , probably displaced by deep snow on the tops - unusual here. Feeding along the water's edge.
Goldcrest
Dipper
Mallard 2
Tree Sparrows used to nest in a hole in the masonry of the railway viaduct in the 1990s.

Very pretty all round in the snow.
Generally squalid without snow but often quite rich in birds.
A long time since the canal froze!

The naturalists of old left many records of water plants and water snails from this area.

Bankhouse and North Dean woods in the snow

Left the car at home and set off down Bankhouse Wood, crossed Wakefield Road at the bottom, got onto the canal bank to Copley, then across to North Dean Woods to do a circuit there.

Not much to watch on the Bankhouse side, but we've seen a Tawny Owl chick out down there a few times in the past and wondered if I could work out where they nest. One dead trunk of an oak fell over many years ago in which, at nesting time, you could see the adult's tail sticking out from the nest in the top of the trunk. So they must have another hole now, but it wasn't visible to me today.

I like snow because it brightens things up and I see things I normally wouldn't in winter.

Onto that stretch of canal bank by the Copley Water Treatment Works; smells almost as bad as in Summer!  Along here I saw my first ever Waxwings in the 1970s; about 60 of them feeding on hawthorn berries. That was before they got the Rowan berry habit as that tree hadn't yet been planted much around supermarket car parks.

At least 50 Black-headed Gulls feeding in the waste water and flying around. Several of them with full or nearly fully black heads. The flock gets up to about 250 as the winter wears on. Never any other species of gull with them that I can see. They wheel around in the sky seemingly most of the day, then about 3.30 pm they drift off over Greetland as if they are going to roost on Scammonden or Ringstone Edge Reservoirs. It would be nice to know where.

Over in North Dean Wood I got a Goldcrest in the churchyard and a couple of Dippers going up the Calder. Then there were numerous small dull birds flying straight up from under the Rhododendrons into the trees in the wood. Redwings! But none showing any red. Further on as I went through the beeches by the river I flushed two different flocks of at least 100 each, and finally one perched showing a bright red flank as well as the face stripes. They were feeding among the snowy leaf litter, presumably on invertebrates, not seeds. Then straight after this excitement (first big gathering of winter thrushes I'd found this winter) a Buzzard flushed from the tree tops over my head and started circling round and jinking to avoid an angry crow.

Searched the bottom ponds along there in the hope of a Woodcock, but nothing more than a count of  3 Robins, showing they are not just a garden bird.

Lovely walk in the snowy woods.

Mixenden and Stodfold

Very wintry conditions today with heavy snow showers and bright sunny intervals.
Mixenden Res'r
21 Canada's and 2 Greylags Geese
3 Cormorants
21 Mallard
Surprisingly no Goldeneye
2 Grey Wagtails and 1 Pied Wagtail
Usual Gulls and corvids

Stodfold
7 Curlew
2 Snipe
130 + Woodpigeons
1 Stonechat doing the rounds on the manure heaps.

 Grey Wagtail

 

Stonechat

'Pinkies' ? and garden birds

From Dave B -  3 skeins reported, probably 'pinkies', at 10:20 over Low Moor, Bradford heading our way. I tried from home but couldn't pick them up so guess they either headed over town, the Calder Valley or Queensbury direction. ? Wonder if anyone else managed to see them ?

On the plus side I had a Green Woodpecker flyover while I was out looking for the geese.
Took a few shots of birds in the garden this morning - through the window !

 Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

 Mistle Thrush (a scarce garden bird here)
 

 Blackbird

 

 Long-tailed Tit

 

Blue Tit

Goldcrest (a regular this winter on the fat-filled coconut)

Swales Moor

On the top along Ringby Lane this afternoon for and hour. Not a lot about in the freezing cold easterly wind other than the usual corvids, 2 Herring gulls and c35 Common Gulls near the ski-slope.
5 Skyark together on the top field were the best birds of the day
2 Meadow Pipits
1 Pied Wagtail

Ogden Water

Ten whooper swans on the water at 8.00 am this morning

Swales Moor - Ringby Lane

I am still living in the hope of a Snow Bunting - but again to no avail ! Perfect weather for them.
2 Grey Wagtails overhead >SE were good to see though unusual over this site
1 Snipe flushed on the top
Distant Buzzard
1 Red-legged Partridge again flushed on the top
c20 Meadow Pipits are still frequenting the field they have used all winter though they hide away in the grass and only seem to show when the Carrion Crows fly over them
1 Great Black-backed Gull >W
6 Herring Gulls
c35 Common Gulls in the fields at Ploughcroft below the ski slope with c50 Jackdaws and c100 Starlings
Usual Carrion Crows

Mixenden Res'r and Fly Flats

After yesterday's Whooper Swans at Fly Flats I thought it would be worth a quick check this morning to see if there were any more about. Nothing doing and the Flay Flats birds had gone. I don't blame them in the conditions up there this morning freezing mist but the water was just about scan-able !
Mixenden - One third was frozen over.
3 Cormorant
25 Mallard
Pair of Goldeneye
5 Canada Geese
70+ B H Gulls
11 Common Gulls

Fly Flats - not frozen but I think the wind was responsible for that !
c30 Canada Geese
1 Snipe flew down into the juncas

Withens Head
6 Golden Plover in the field flew off into the mist towards Nolstar where BS got some later in the day.
1 Stonechat around the farm building
20 Lapwings flying over towards Cold Edge Dams

Golden Plover - the best I could do !

Crimsworth Dean

The upper end of the dean around the Grain Water Bridge area produced some nice birds this afternoon despite the freezing cold wind. Bright sunshine throughout.
13 Curlew
80+ Lapwing
c30 Golden Plover
c50 Fieldfare
2 Mistle Thrush (singing)
c200 Starlings
10+ Stock Doves
1 Little Owl
1 Skylark
At least 3 Kestrels
9 Goldfinch
1 Sparrowhawk near Pecket Well
Loads of Pheasants (40+) and even more Red Grouse on the moor

 Starlings + a few Fieldfare

 

Curlew flyovers

Fly Flatts

Fly Flatts today was busy with birds 2 Snipe , 1 Oystercatcher , 20 Lapwing , 60 + Canada Geese , 8 Mallards , 8 Whooper Swans  and 1 Shelduck

Cold Edge

Yesterday afternoon. Very quiet on the whole with very little movement of birds apart from 1 Great Black-backed Gull and 1 Herring Gull >W.
Around 25 Lapwings on the dams and some Golden Plover heard on the moor were the only waders
c60 Canada's and 2 Greylags Geese on the lower pond fields and the lone Pink-footed Goose still there in with some 'domestics'
1 Kestrel
8 Meadow Pipits
c150 Starlings
c80 Fieldfares

Bird ID Help

  Can anyone help with ID of this bird seen in the woods
  at Cromwell Bottom, it moved and acted like a Jay which
  I thought it was but the colours were all wrong, sorry for
  the poor pic but couldn't focus fast enough with all the twigs
  before it disappeared.
  Also a few pics of the Shibden Valley Buzzard.

Monday PM

Short eared owl seen from A6033 just inside Calderdale Monday evening.

Walshaw Dean area

Feeling a little spring-like bird wise up there today.

- 3 curlew
- 45+ lapwing
- 5 oystercatcher
- 2 raven at Walshaw, 4 together just south of Widdop
- 3 song thrush in full voice
- 3 mistle thrush
- siskin heard in the plantation
- fly through buzzard

Mount Tabor - Heath Hill

2 Curlew over this morning. Kestrel hunting the field and Sparrowhawk on the ground in the garden. 13 Golden Plover at 17.15 in the field at Heath Hill was good to see.

Late report

Forgot to post this - had a curlew over the house on February 6th.
Also 3 buzzards the same week.

A pair of goosander were on the river in Hebden Bridge, along with a dipper. And a cormorant was also diving on the river by the train station. Along with the recent local mammal sightings, this would indicate the river is increasingly healthy.

Only other thing to note is that although the bird feeders at home have been busy, I am yet to see a greenfinch - a bird that in previous years was seen daily.

Fly Flats - High Brown Knoll - Pecket Well

A great day to be out walking - if well wrapped up. Very cold up there with light snow and ice underfoot. We thought it might be worth a look for Snow Bunting along the ridge of High Brown Knoll along the footpath call Limers Gate - but there was nothing up there other than loads of Red Grouse making plenty of noise and flying over the moor.
Fly Flats
1 Skylark
2 Carrion Crows
2 Mallard
4 Canada Geese

 Fly Flats from the top road looking >WSW towards High Brown Knoll in the middle distance

 

 Ferney Brinks - the moor looking >NNE towards Fly Flats and Nab Hill

 

Limers Gate on High Brown Knoll looking >W towards Gorple and Walshaw in the far distance (where we were hoping for Snow Bunting !)

 

On the other side down Crimsworth Dean birds were sparse other than a distant Buzzard, 1 Herring Gull >W and c25 Lapwings and corvids near Pecket Well

Luddenden Dean

From yesterday afternoon - a bright clear very cold day but went down into the dean for a bit of respite from the wind on the tops. I went towards the Lower Lodge to see if there were any Brambling coming in to the roost with Chaffinch's at Castle Carr. Plenty of Chaff's heading up the valley late on in small groups but no sign of any Brambling unfortunately. There just don't seem to be any about after a good show of them last winter. Perhaps the seed crop in Scandinavia is better for them this winter (?)
1 Green Woodpecker
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Nuthatch
1 Little Owl
3 Kestrels
1 Buzzard
1 Redwing
20+ Fieldfare
4 Mistle Thrush
3 Stock Doves
+ a few other expected species

Walshaw Estate featured in Mark Avery's blog

https://markavery.info/2018/02/05/wuthering-moors-55/?platform=hootsuite

Mixenden Reservoir

First thing today
5 Cormorant
4 Goosander inc 2 males
3 Goldeneye inc 1 drake
8 Mallard
1 L B B Gull
1 Herring Gull
Usual smaller gulls.

Also from yesterday alongside the river and canal between Luddenden Foot and Mytholmroyd
2 Cormorant . In the sunshine showing the iridescent plumage which is often shown in 'black' plumaged birds like Rooks, Magpies, Lapwings etc..

Cormorant

 

Also along the river at least 4 Dippers, Peregrine over high, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 4+ Nuthatch and just 2 Grey Herons and a Kestrel.

Anyone like a challenge ??

With thanks to David Crawshaw -  a photo taken in Ethiopia recently though it can be seen occasionally in the UK.

Identification challenge !

It certainly challenged me - but I got there eventually.



Lee Mount

I was pondering going on the tops today looking for Snow Bunting but changed my mind - went soft !!
I bet BS will be out this afternoon though.....

Instead I got on with completing some bird boxes in the garage. 14 'tit' type boxes + 2 Treecreeper boxes to add to 10 more 'tit' boxes from Roger R purchased from the National Trust using funds from the Grapevine contributions.

With Alan T we have permission from landowners and plan to put a good number of these up at sites in Cragg Vale, not just for 'tit' species but also to target Redstart and Pied Flycatcher as with both species we struggle to retain birds that move through in spring.

Also today
Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming in the park at the back (Shroggs Park), Song Thrush singing, then as I was coming out of the garage for a sarnie I heard 'cronkin' from a passing Raven and just managed too see it pass over the back of the house in the snow. Not a bad day after all.

Swales Moor

Ringby Lane this afternoon

Quiet sky with no wind and nothing moving other than 5 Herring Gulls >N.
In the fields, some recently ploughed, there were plenty birds taking advantage of the worms etc ..
160+ Common Gulls (mostly adults)
2 Black-headed Gulls
100+ Carrion Crows
140+ Jackdaws
c30 Magpies
A good show of Meadow Pipits with c35 alongside a single Pied Wagtail but not a sign of any Skylarks today.
3 Stock Dove
1 Wren
Distant Kestrel over Shibden Valley and a flock of 30+ Lapwings over towards Shelf Moor.

Nearly forgot.... - 5 Fieldfares in the 'mipit' field.

Calder Valley

Calder Valley am & early pm.

18 fieldfares
20 redwings-two locations
2 kingfishers
3 dippers
1 grey wagtail
6 goosander, 3f 3m
1 cormorant
1 gs woodpecker seen
1 gs woodpecker drumming
1 nuthatch
1 peregrine over
1 buzzard mobbed by corvids

3 roe deer
Report of a mustelid sighting received from a walker

Wainstalls and Castle Carr Road

Full length of the road and return this afternoon. Still very much wintry conditions up there.
1 Common Buzzard distant and at one stage harassed by 3 Ravens
1 Kestrel
2 Mistle Thrush
3 Meadow Pipits
A few Herring Gulls >W
2 Reed Buntings in the bushes by the top lodge at the far end of the road.
Plenty of vocal Red Grouse
No sign of any Little Owls this afternoon - but they will be there somewhere !!

Mixenden Reservoir

Another check today in the hope of something turning up !
2 pairs of Goldeneye
12 Mallard
1 Cormorant
1 ad L B B Gull along with a good number of B H Gulls and a few Common Gulls

Swales Moor

Along the top of the ridge at Ringby Lane mid/late afternoon
Top field (former manure heap field)
4 Skylarks
c20 Meadow Pipits
1 Pied Wagtail
2 Wrens in a bramble patch

North fields (recently ploughed)
200+ corvids with a good mix of Rooks, Carrion Crows, Jackdaws and a few Magpies, Common Gulls and 2 Black-headed Gulls

Moving birds  >W
1 ad Great Black-backed Gull
1 ad Lesser Black-backed Gull
3 Herring Gulls
7 Common Gulls
The highlight was 4 Golden Plover high >N (they don't half move at a fast pace)!

Ringstone Edge Reservoir...

Late morning in freezing cold conditions and a strong NW blast !
West field - 45 Golden Plover, c145 Lapwing, 100+ Starlings along with just a few corvids and small gulls and a single Kestrel.
Reservoir - 2 Snipe, 2 Mallard

On the way back I got a call from PG with c80 Pink-footed Geese >W over Beacon Hill. I picked them out a moment later high over the top of Salterhebble. Always nice to see over our area.

Yesterday

Yesterday PM
Cock Hill Area

1 short eared owl
1 buzzard
2 kestrels
4 red grouse
1 raven

Cold Edge

A goose day !

Pretty hard work in the freezing cold wind up there this morning. It ended up with a big bonus with c242 Pink-footed Geese right overhead following the EWS from Andy at Northowram.

 c180 in this group (above) closely followed by 11,25,12 and 14 (below)

 

Earlier on there were 30+ Canada's at Cold Edge along with 19 Greylags and a tired looking 'pinkie' type in with the domestics, It's not usually there with them but need to check it again as I couldn't get any leg colour - it just looked worn out (below).

 

Also in that area a flock of c130 Fieldfare, 1 Redwing 3 Mistle Thrush, 3 Blackbirds and c250 Starlings.

1 Reed Bunting

A male Peregrine over a couple of times

Plenty of B H Gulls and a few Common Gulls about as well as usual corvids

1 distant Little Owl near Wainstalls

 

UPDATE - with thanks to BS for checking out the 'pinkie' though I did manage to get up there later in the afternoon with Nick D and we met Pete S on his way down from that cold winter bite up there !

Besides the Pink-footed Goose showing better  and showing it's leg colour we also found a pair of Stonechats by the small upper pond along with a Moorhen and then a single Little Owl on Castle Carr Road.

(See BS's blog - West Yorkshire Birding - and comments on the leg colour + photo's of this individual).



Cold Edge

This afternoon - not much change in the weather up there this afternoon in the cold wind - though it had stopped raining !
c320 Fieldfare flew over in a big flock along with c60 Starlings and just a few Redwings with them, most of them heading down towards Castle Carr Road/ Luddenden Dean. Guess they were put up by a raptor, unseen, though a lot of smaller gulls and Jackdaws were also disturbed at the same time.
1f Goldeneye
1 Grey Heron
11 Canada Geese
1 Greylag Goose
2 Moorhen
14 Mallard
2 Mistle Thrush
Plenty Red Grouse evident on the moor
2 Kestrel

A nice view looking west towards Stoodley Pike beyond Midgley Moor as I came back down Withens Road after  quick check at Fly Flatts where I bumped into BS after doing his rounds at Fly Flatts. Bracing up there this aft Bri !!
c20 Fieldfare were in the fields just across from the wind-farm car park area.

Garden feeders

This male Great Spotted Woodpecker, along with his mate, has been a daily visitor to the garden feeders for at least 12 months now. I have only been able to get him through the window as he is still very wary and only appears when no-one is about.

 

We also get a pair of Nuthatch regularly along with 4 tit species etc. Yesterday was a surprise with a Goldcrest on the fat-filled coconut. We do see Goldcrests occasionally but never before have we seen one on the feeders. I tried hard for a photo without success as the bird darted around snatching morsels of fat.

Mixenden Res’r

2 drakes and 2 f Goldeneye there this morning
4 Cormorant
1 Great Black-backed Gull >W
2 Herring Gulls
2 L B B Gulls
A few B H Gulls and Common Gulls
1 Grey Wagtail

Hebden otter

Picture borrowed from Facebook. Apparently another youngster taken into care near Callis Bridge.

Mixenden Reservoir

3 Goldeneye (including 1 drake) this morning along with 5 Cormorants and that was about it !

Mammal news

Not birds, I know, but it's an exceptional record.

It was being widely reported on Facebook on Thursday that a 'baby otter' was making a load of noise on the riverbank opposite Cambridge Street, Hebden Bridge. Most people were saying the same as I was thinking - surely it's a mink?

The animal rescue people came out and captured it, and sure enough it was an otter pup! They searched for its parent without success, so it was taken to a wildlife centre in Cheshire. They have pledged that once it's strong enough it will be brought back to this area and released.

I wish I'd seen it, but caught the thread on fb too late!

Tame Grouse???

Took my Scouts on our annual hike starting at Hardcastle Crags today. We were walking on the path under Shackleton Knoll when a Grouse turned up just a metre away from us chattering away to us. Despite my Scouts being noisy etc it stayed with us and then followed us when we moved off

Mixenden Reservoir

Late morning - with snow showers continuing
Just 1 Shelduck
3 Goosander including a male
3 Goldeneye
5 Cormorant
5 Herring Gulls >W

Mixenden Reservoir

This afternoon
2 Shelduck - initially found one bird on the water which then moved on to the top of the embankment then I found another one hiding away on the shoreline just over the banking near the gate. (BS and AT arrived on a 'twitch' ......and it was good to have a chat in the sleet !)
6 Cormorant
Pair of Goldeneye
4 Mallard
A few B H Gulls, though Common Gulls notable by their absence, other than just a few adult birds.
1 Herring Gull flythrough >W
2 Jays and a few Goldfinch
I also checked the woodland plantation in the hope of a Woodcock - what a bog - but all I could find was a Kestrel sheltering from the elements.

Red Grouse behaviour

Posting from Rob G on Sunday 14th Jan. Thanks Rob. An interesting encounter of territorial behaviour !

"...at Walshaw Dean Reservoir this morning at the gate leading up High Rakes!! Refused to let me pass and blocked my progress for about 50 metres up the track. Kept flying at my legs and standing toe to toe with me."

Mixenden Res’r and Fly Flatts

Mixenden
3 Goldeneye (1drake)
2 Cormorant
1 Grey Wagtail
1 ad Great Black- backed Gull >W
c100 B H Gulls but only 6 Common Gulls
60+ Jackdaws
Green Woodpecker flyover towards Ogden

Fly Flatts
20+ Mallard
2 Raven >S
1 x 2nd winter Herring Gull >NW

Withens Head
18 Fieldfare

Brighouse

A Cormorant in the Calder just upstream of the Huddersfield Road bridge. Not sure how unusual this is is, but I can't recall seeing one here before.

Ogden Garden

Reed Bunting perched on the cotoneaster and on the ground feeder most days in the last 10 day period.

Skircoat Moor

From WG - c30 Redwings on the sports pitch areas yesterday on the lower side of Skircoat Moor near the 'chippy'.
A traditional wintering area  and it's always worth to check for them there as well as in and around Manor Heath Park.

Warley Moor

Took a walk along Castle Carr Road this afternoon and at the end by the 'Top Lodg' ended up heading over Warley Moor to Rocking Stone Flat at SE035302 - what a bog, though I avoided the worst bit which is the moor to Slade and Withens Head. That's often a wellie job in summer, never mind winter !
On the top (412m) I could see BS just pulling up at Fly Flatts nearly a mile away so we had a nice  chat over the phone ! Look forward to tonights report Bri.

Very little to report bird wise....but enough to keep me going.
5 Herring Gulls >W
3 Kestrels over Midgley Moor
1 Stock Dove
Plenty of Red Grouse getting vocal
1 Reed Bunting at the top lodge - it used to be a good spot for a small wintering flock but only the one in evidence today.

2 Little Owls together near Wainstalls
Also a flock of 80+ Fieldfare flew over towards Cold Edge

 Looking east towards Slade and Withens Head (wind farm in the mist)

click photo's to enlarge
 

Looking west towards the 'top lodge' with Midgley Moor beyond

Ringstone

                   Male and Female Pintail at Ringstone today.MH,DF

Redwings

http://birdingfrontiers.com/2015/11/01/icelandic-redwings-are-arriving/

Redwings etc

From Andy H.
Small group of fieldfare, Mistle thrush and redwings near craggies yesterday with a couple of the redwings showing characteristics of ssp coburni although I couldn't see undertail coverts as they were feeding on the ground. Worth checking any flocks you come across.
Will try post photos from Andy.

Lesser Redpoll

'listers' will probably be interested in this. Birdwatch January 2018.

Pinkies

Over Highroad Well  at 4.27 this morning.  There must have been a lot of them as they woke me up with all the racket they made

Mixenden Reservoir and Fly Flatts

Mixenden - just a pair of Goldeneye late morning and little else.

Fly Flatts - don't know why I went up there in the driving rain and gale force wind conditions - but I did - though I did stay in the car.
A second winter Herring Gull came over heading >NW but the gale forced it sideways >SW
25+ drake Mallard on the peninsula - I guess females were with them but I couldn't see them in the driving rain !

Work opportunity

GFB has part-time flexible work in Elland for a local birder or naturalist with practical skills. Help us make nature conservation products, details here or contact John Beaumont.

Pepper Hill

This covers the hillside overlooking Claremount, Boothtown and the Shibden Valley.
A nice year tick from the top of Horley Green looking down the Shibden Valley - with 5 Mute Swans on Shibden Park Lake.
1 Common Buzzard
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Kestrel
2 Jays
2 Bullfinch
2 Herring Gulls >W
That was about it apart from corvids with a few B H Gulls and Common Gulls in the valley.
The daylight disappeared rapidly in the gloom this afternoon.

Baird's Sandpiper Accepted

We have just received news that the Baird's Sand at Whiteholme in September as been accepted by the British Birds Rare Birds Panel, thus making it a new species for Calderdale and probably only the 9th for Yorkshire ( need to check this). There's no problem with Brian's Great Egret and Caspian Gull so all we are waiting on is the Red-footed Falcon at Walshaw in July. The YNU judge this record and they can take their time about it, but I personally think its a sound record and am prepared to include it in the next bird report, anyone who hasn't seen the description is welcome to view it just drop me an email or leave your details. Its also that time of year when I start to hassle people for their records, its taking a lot longer these days to process them all so could I please have them in as soon as possible PLEASE.

Mixenden and Ogden etc

This morning.
Mixenden Reservoir
3 Goldeneye (2 drakes)
4 Teal
1 Cormorant
9 Great Black-backed Gulls >W (included 7 adults)
1 Common Buzzard in the sleet >NW was a surprise
c60 B H Gulls and c20 Common Gulls.

Ogden
Usual species around the duck feeding area including 1 drake Tufted Duck
Nothing down the sluice area as workmen were down there doing repairs - I was hoping for Kingfisher and maybe Dipper or Grey Wagtail. One for another day !

Goldeneye reported from Ringstone Reservoir this morning (AT)