Beacon Hill

Juvenile Linnet. Fairly tame. Quite pale. Lacks the adults' pale cheek spot. 

Lee Mount

Sky watch in the garden late morning / early afternoon. Hot sunshine and a strong south-westerly though the shelter of the nearby treeline was welcome. 

1 Buzzard >SE

5 Swifts (2+2+1) all >SW generally accompanied by a few Swallows. Also 4 House Martins and a Sand Martin same direction.

1 Sparrowhawk 

16 Starlings

3 LBBG's >S

2 Kestrels distant over towards Swales.

Saw this and thought of you.............. A play about birders in Sowerby Bridge.

https://mikron.org.uk/tour-dates-detail?show=2023-09-14-sowerby-bridge-fire-water

Ogden

This morning in the drizzle and descending mist.

Not a lot to report.

3 Cormorant

1 Tufted Duck

1 Dipper in the outflow

1 Chiffchaff and 2 Treecreepers in the 'tit' flock near the top end of the west bank

8 Common Gull some B H Gulls to and fro.

1 sickly looking Lesser Black-backed Gull

1 Great-spotted Woodpecker

11+ Swallows

plus usual species 

Fly Flats and Withens Head

Late afternoon check once the mist had cleared, though a blustery wind and intermittent heavy showers.

1 Kestrel, 2 Ravens, 1 Swallow, 1 Meadow Pipit, 4 Carrion Crows, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Mallard.

At least 17 Wheatears around the site with approx 11 in the area of Robin Rock, 3 near the boat-house and another 3 on the res'r walls. Probably more hidden away in the conditions.

Withens Head watch-point was devoid of birds apart from 1 Canada Goose, a Kestrel and 3 Swallows.

Lee Mount - 11th August

Several sighting of  Swifts with 2 over early morning, perhaps the same ones early afternoon and up to three later in the day. One juvenile Buzzard over, as well as a Sparrowhawk mid afternoon. Also 2 House Martins mid afternoon.

Yesterday I was fortunate to see a Red Kite over Hunter Hill late afternoon. Always a bit special.

Cold Edge

 Juvenile male Stonechat with deep orange flanks

Juvenile Linnet (1 of 2). Field guides do not seem very interested in juvenile Passerines, and I have not found a good description of juv Linnet. Two things were noticeable in the field: tameness - they perched closer to me than adults would have done; and they were paler than adults. The photo shows reddish-brown flanks, brown greater and lesser coverts, and pale bordered median coverts.

Cold Edge

Juvenile Stonechat

Round and about

Last few days - quite a few Wheatear moving through some of our upland sites by now - with more to come ! Stonechats and Whitethroats seem to have been doing well with several juveniles about near Ogden, Wainstalls, Cold Edge and Ovenden Moor. A single Curlew was still on the moor near the wind farm this afternoon.

4 Swifts this morning has been the normal count around Lee Mount this year - the few we have will soon be heading off back to Africa though we can still get the occasional one even into September.

A nice surprise this afternoon was a Black Redstart near the wind-farm car park. It seems to be a regular late summer/autumn arrival though at times they can be very elusive. It was with a Wheatear this afternoon. They can be found on stone walls, rocky areas. Upland farms are always worth a check at this time of year.

Other late summer migrants are also starting to move through with Willow Warblers and Common Redstarts (not so common nowadays) also starting to show. Three of the latter were near Ogden golf course yesterday. 

Cold Edge

Whitethroat: 1 female, 2 males

Wheatear: 2 adults

HUMMING BIRD HAWK MOTH

 A beautiful humming bird hawk moth seen from our window in Walsden yesterday, flapping furiously round our car.  (Well, I know it's not a bird but it was the size of a small bird!) It didn't linger long though.

Sandra

Whiteholme Reservoir

Had a couple of visits to Whiteholme this week. The reservoir is full to the brim, with gallons flowing out of the overflow. However, the center 'island' is still showing so that alone should be enough to bring a few birds in over the Autumn.

• At around 10:15 three Common Tern flew slowly SW across the reservoir, before disappearing over the hillside. At 10:21 they returned, this time much higher up and calling, before heading off NW. Please excuse the sloppy photo editing, I did it on my phone. 

• On the 24th a Whimbrel flew over heading SWish. Calls were heard four times, but the bird was not seen.

• On the 24th a juvenile Little Ringed Plover was present on the island. Today an adult was present on the remnant shoreline in the NE corner. 

In total managed 13 species this morning, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S145730000

-Common Terns

On the 24th I also called in a Ryburn Reservoir to check out the recent Little Egret seen there. It arrived while I was there but was lost behind the trees and I couldn't find it again.

-Little Egret

Cold Edge

Juvenile Tufted Duck. (Thanks Dave S for pointing out that the bill size and shape are wrong for Little Grebe)

Juvenile Skylark

Barnacle Goose

Copley area.

This afternoon, despite the threat of rain it did stay just about dry. 

Walking alongside the River Calder, looking up above North Dean Wood it was really good to see loads of Swifts (maybe 60+ or possibly double that number - they are impossible to count in those feeding frenzies) all feeding high over the trees. Just further up river, near the viaduct 40++ House Martins were also busy along with just a few Swallows though we didn't locate any Sand Martins with them.

A Buzzard went high overhead carrying prey and 2 female Goosander were on the river with two Chiffchaffs still in song.

Late afternoon a drake Common Scoter turned up at Ogden Reservoir. A nice find JJL.

Whiteholme

Juvenile Wheatear

 

Whiteholme

21 of 23 Greylags

1 Wheatear

And a stoat at Blackstone Edge. The black tip to the tail (as well as its size) shows it is not a weasel

Ringstone

 Three Black-Tailed Godwit in the field at Ringstone this morning

 

Hardcastle Crags

 Not many birds found in the crags today but did manage a couple of 'gems'.

Target bird was Spotted Flycatcher - we found a pair - just before we returned to the car park.

Best I could do with my Panasonic Lumix.

Spotted Flycatcher

Also a Woodcock flushed as we walked through the woodland. It did two circuits then disappeared into the bracken. 

Warley Moor / Ovenden Moor

 A single Drake Common Scoter 'sleeping' on Fly Flats res'r this morning which I scoped from the top road. Tricky at a distance in the rain but it did keep popping it's head up to secure identification. Distant waders too far away in the conditions though there were still a few Curlew about. Lots of Swifts feeding over the water and the upwind on the west facing hillside.

Sad to see a fully fledged juvenile Lapwing with a broken wing - maybe flew into a fence line. Adult was still in attendance. It was sad to leave them to it though the injured bird was still feeding well but chances of survival are probably nil.

An Oystercatcher on Ogden this afternoon, 2 Grey Herons, 6 LBB Gulls, 1 adult Herring Gull and 7 Black-headed Gulls. Not a lot else.

Shibden Park

sinensis Cormorant juvenile. Another shot which shows very clearly how, in this subspecies, the rear edge of the yellow gular patch drops vertically from the gape

Shibden Park

'Continental' Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis - juvenile.

The bird does not look bulky (on average P. c. carbo is heavier), and the diagnostic feature for determining subspecies can be seen in these photos: that is, the rear edge of the yellow gular patch drops vertically from the gape (in P. c. carbo the rear edge slopes forwards below the gape).

Intermediates do occur, but most closely photographed birds can easily be assigned to subspecies, and it is surprising that this is not done more often. With their differing structure and breeding distribution (typically, carbo - coastal, sinensis - inland), the two subspecies could become full species one day.

And it was nice to see 4 trout about 20cm long in the beck. The fish in the photo is identified as Brown Trout by the red spots on its side (Rainbow has only black spots), and by the lack of Rainbow's tail spots and pink lateral line.

Shibden Park

 Muscovy Duck

Beacon Hill

 Stock Dove

Shroggs Park - 17th June - Reed Warbler

I had a surprise this morning whilst I was checking out some sites around Ogden. Steve C sent me a phone recording of a bird singing in Shroggs Park at Lee Mount. With Andy C we met up with Steve (plus sound recording gear) just to hear snatches of song. The bird was singing on and off in an area of dense vegetation, tall rampant weeds, large overgrown shrubs and overhanging trees but it was reluctant to show. 

We felt care was needed to ensure correct identification as this is not typical Reed Warbler habitat. They are usually in a reed-bed.

The noise of traffic, along with a helicopter flyover, as well as bird song from Song Thrush, Wren and Blackcaps made for tricky listening and further recording though we came away satisfied that, against other options and the original recording by Steve, that it was in fact a Reed Warbler. Hopefully it will stay around a short while longer. 

Quite a turn up for a local park !!

Well done Steve.

Bank Top

 Whitethroat female carrying food

Whiteholme

 Reed Bunting male

Pied Wagtail juvenile

Whiteholme

 2 Meadow Pipits looking pale in the bright sunlight 

Brearley

 A lot of good work gone on here to make good use of a flood plane near the River Calder. Just need some rain !

Common Sandpiper on the river this afternoon. Male Goosander flew down river and a few Sand Martins about as well as 2 House Martins and 4 Swifts. Barnacle Goose with Canadas Geese. Also a Whitethroat and a Willow Warbler.

Shibden Park

One of a brood of 6 young Moorhens

Adult Coots with brood of 9 young!

And there is another brood of 4 young Coots

Cold Edge

 Barnacle Goose

Stonechat: breeding and non-breeding males

Cromwell Bottom Goosanders

 I had a lovely couple of hours at Cromwell Bottom yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Half an hour of that time was spent watching a family group of Goosander - a female and 8 ducklings - trying to negotiate the weir on the river. Even if there had been water flowing over the weir I doubt they'd have been successful.

The adult would fly onto the top, call for her brood to follow, then jump back down to join them when they failed to follow her. She did this 4 times at different parts of the weir before giving up and going off back downstream.

Any chance of getting some funding for a Goosander Ladder on the river? 😂😂😂