Bramblings at Sowerby Bridge

Peachy Steve is one of our newer members at Halifax Scientific Society. He got these superb shots of a male Brambling in Dodge Royd Wood on 5th Jan. The flock was feeding on Beech mast on towards Triangle.

You can see how the head feathers are black closer to its skin. When the grey tips wear off  the black will be revealed ready for breeding in spring. This is a common way of changing colour among birds. It avoids the heavy investment of moulting and growing a new set. 

Wheatley Valley

I gave the former landfill site a go this morning - been thinking about going down there for a while but its a welly job especially over the large grass flat area which is very wet (even in summer)!!
I had in mind  a possible Jack Snipe or Common Snipe but was unable to flush anything, though I guess there are both species there in winter. A bonus bird turned up trumps though, with a Woodcock flushed just as I was about to give up. A new bird for this site.

I then tried the planted area (young mixed woodland with a lot of Alder, Rowan, Willow, Birch, Hazel, Cherry etc ..) which was alive with birds including
10+ Bullfinch
30+ Redwings
1 Song Thrush singing
25+ Chaffinch
8 Greenfinch
20+ Goldfinch
Lots of Blue and Great Tits though just 2 L T Tits but no Coal Tits or Goldcrests
1 Jay
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Kestrel
3 Herring Gulls over >NW
Altogether 27 sp.. in 2 hrs
Also a Red Fox - looked like a big male in superb condition and not so much red but more black than red. All in all a very enjoyable and productive  morning!

Swales Moor and Mixenden Res'r

At least 1 Twite positive i d  (possibly another?) in with the Linnet flock of 28 this morning along Ringby Lane. They are a tricky lot, very flighty and difficult to approach as well as finding the flock in the first place!
1 Skylark on the top
Little else other than the usual corvids and a few Common Gulls in the fields
1 female Sparrowhawk nearby

Mixenden Res'r
4 Goldeneye including 1 drake
Also a drake Tufted Duck
c 100 B H Gulls and a few Common Gulls

 

Elland GP

No luck this morning with the scaup sadly. The conditions were not great, with terrible glare and the wind making it difficult to hold the scope steady, but I could not find the bird.
There were plenty of other things though:
-6 Tufted duck: 4 male, 2 female
-3 Goosander: 1 male, 2 female
-5 Cormorant
-Coot
-Moorhen
-Black Headed and Common Gulls
-1 Little Grebe
-At least 7 Bullfinches on the feeding station
-Long-tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, robin and dunnock on the feeding station
-1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker

However, the Mirfield Great Northern Diver made for great compensation after dipping on the scaup

Mixenden and Ogden Res'rs

Mixenden this afternoon - terrible conditions!
5 Goldeneye ( 1 drake)
1 Tufted Duck (drake)
25 Woodpigeons
11 Stock Doves

Ogden
32 Lapwings over >W then they turned round back east so they were probably the flock from the north slope of Soil Hill
1 Sparrowhawk hunting the woodland
c60 Woodpigeons
c120 B H Gulls and 20+ Commons >N towards Thornton Moor Res'r
c80 Mallard but no sign of the recent Little Grebe

More Scaup pics

A couple more of the Scaup from DF (much better than mine).

Other news today

Pink-footed Geese on the move today across lunchtime 4 skeins totalling 785 heading west seen from Northowram. See details on the link to Northowram Wildlife (AC)
Apologies for the earlier error in reporting pinkies over Oxenhope - I must have dreamt that!!!!!
2 skeins over Lee Mount heard tonight in the dark sounded to be heading west at 6.0 pm followed closely by another group heard at 6.20 pm. Some more tomorrow with a bit of luck!

Cold Edge and Brookfoot

Gave it a try this afternoon but the weather was foul with driving rain. I did manage 3 new sp. for the year with 1 Grey Heron, 3 Red Grouse and 7 Pheasants but that was about it other than c15 B H Gulls. Some of the latter are already advanced in plumage with well pronounced black heads nearly complete though the majority are still in winter plumage.

Following the soaking up there I decided to try for the 1st winter Scaup at Brookfoot fishing lake. Though the light was fading it was still feeding along with 4 Coot so that was a bonus bird for the new year.

First winter Scaup at Elland GP

Found JBs first winter Scaup on the fishing lake at 2.30 this afternoon.It had obviously been spooked off the ski lake by speed boats. Fortunatly for me and DF it had come down right in front of us on the fishing lake, where it gave good close views in poor light.Also Kingfiher and Dipper present.DF probably has better photos???

Today

Mytholmroyd 2.15pm.

A peregrine falcon and a raven over.

Stainland

Walk round stainland this morning

Castle carr -
Nuthatch heard
GSW heard

Stainland Dean
2 Jay
Sparrowhawk
M + F Bullfinch
Greenfinch heard
50 Redwing

Along Blackbrook
2 Grey heron
3 Dipper
2 Kestrel

Other news

From John B yesterday,  a first winter Scaup on the ski lake at Brookfoot yesterday though no news as to whether or not its still there today. Scaup are not often recorded in Calderdale in recent years so that's a good find.

A good number of Pink-footed Geese >W across lunchtime today reported from Andy at Northowram.  Thanks, I did manage to pick out one skein through the trees of Shroggs Park in Lee Mount. Details of numbers will I guess be on Northowram Wildlife blog later today.

Home to Mankinholes to Walsden

A mild morning for a wander - hat, gloves, scarf and jumper removed before I'd gone 200 yards :)

150+ Fieldfare in fields at Cross Lane, Mankinholes
1 Little owl by Pennine Bridleway by Top Brink
7 Goosander (2 drakes) at Lee Dam
1 Little Owl at Lee Dam
5 Lapwing at Longfield Dam
1 f. Goldeneye at Longfield Dam
106 Redwing at Knowl Wood in birch trees
1 Kestrel over at Knowl Wood

Out and about!

Wheatley Valley - male Sparrowhawk this morning hunting among the trees on the former landfill site along Shroggs Road. Also a few Redwings about first thing over Shroggs Park

Mixenden Res'r - drake Tufted Duck along with 3 female Goldeneye. 2 adult L B B Gulls, c100 B H Gulls and c40 Common Gulls. 1 Pied Wagtail

Balkram Edge - pair of Little Owls on a wall

Fly Flats - not even a Red Grouse!!

Withens Head - 11 Fieldfares and 9 Starlings in the field by the wind farm car park

Recent bits

A dipper was on the river at Callis Bridge on New Years Day. A goosander flew over Walkley Clogs, and a male sparrowhawk narrowly missed taking a blackbird at Mytholmroyd station.

Several nuthatch were seen and heard on the lane up to Hebden Hey in the Crags yesterday, including 4 in one tree! A few siskin were also about.

New Year Bird Count

Halifax Scientific Society New Year Walk and Bird Count North Dean Wood, Norland Clough and Norland Moor.RESULT:
We didn't see the Stonechat, Reed Bunting or winter thrushes seen on Boxing Day, but we did get 18 species, four more than last year on 1st Jan 2013.
Some were in the home garden before setting off, and on the way to the meet, but all countable for a day list. These lists just give an idea of bird diversity on a rainy day in winter 2013-2014, and may be interesting in the future.
Five people who attended saw:
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Dunnock
Chaffinch
Blackbird
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Feral Pigeon
Black-headed Gull
Woodpigeon
Jay
Robin
Grey Wagtail
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Treecreeper
Common Gull
Jackdaw
Mammals: Grey Squirrel(1) Roe Deer(3 together) Rabbit signs.

We completed the planned route, then enjoyed drinks including pints of Wainwright Ale in the Star at Lindwell (Greetland).

garden Birds taken on 31 dec

Happy New Year!

Wishing all Calderdale birders a happy and bird filled 2014!

Mixenden and Ogden Res'rs

Late afternoon - nothing on Mixenden other than Black-headed (c220) and Common Gulls (c40)
Also nearby c40 Jackdaws, 4 Stock Doves, c20 Woodpigeons. Also a nice flock of c120 Starlings

Ogden was abandoned in a hail storm and fading light but still more gulls - B H Gulls (c150) and Common Gulls (c20)
1 pair of Tufted Duck
1 Little Grebe

Jay House Lane and Ryburn Res.

On Saturday I topped up the feeders as usual at Jay House Lane.( Well done Jane for cleaning them.) There didn't seem to be many Tree Sparrows about. A big female Sparrowhawk attacked something on the feeders as I was looking back. It didn't get anything that time.

The House Sparrows were at the cottages again along with a few Tree Sparrows.

A large flock of Lapwings were kind of hanging high in the air above the fields. I wrote in my notebook "c.220 but photo might reveal exact number." When I printed a photo and sliced them off in groups with a pencil - I got 220 ! I've read that birdwatchers can get pretty accurate estimates of moving flocks, but surprised myself there.

 Lapwings against clouds - dirt inside my camera.


Ryburn Res.; one Cormorant up in the trees on the south side. A single Great Black-backed gull going towards Baitings Res, a Robin, 25 Lapwings, 5-6 mallards and at dusk a roost of 600 - 700 Corvids - Carrion Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws, in the trees to the south.

There's a lot of felling going on south-east of the dam; seems to be mostly the conifers and sycamores. It will be good for warblers, etc when the new trees start coming up, which I assume they will be planting.