Swales Moor

 Ringby Lane on the top this morning was grim. Freezing cold wind, frozen ground and snow and not a Snow Bunting in sight.....!!!

On the top looking towards Soil Hill -- it would be even grimmer up there !

At the top of Ploughcroft in the little shrubbery where the bird feeders are at least there were a few birds about with Robins, Dunnocks, a mixed bunch of 'tits,' Blackbirds, House Sparrows, Chaffinch Greenfinch and Goldfinches.

Robin

Fieldfare of Bradshaw

 

Whiteholme

Frozen Whiteholme reservoir today:-

Herring gull 1 NE, Common gull 1 NE 

Cromwell Visit

          A few pics from this afternoon at Cromwell Bottom, a shame I didn't get a pic

          of the Firecrest which was very elusive but still great to see it on a local patch.

Cromwell Bottom

I gave it a go for Mike's Firecrest from yesterday . Very cold and frosty this morning but bright sunshine throughout. What a perfect morning to be out in the fresh air. No sign of the target bird but enough to keep me interested with 38 species in total. In this very cold frosty weather it's a wonder birds that mainly eat insects survive the long winter nights whereas the seed eaters stand a much better chance

The lagoon was totally frozen over along with parts of the canal and the ski-lake had just about a quarter of the water still just about free of ice.

Woodland

Woodcock - one flushed from the woodland - they don't hang about, once they go, they go !

Green Woodpecker singing

25+ Lesser Redpoll were very obliging and mostly feeding in birch trees

30+ Siskin were scattered about and mostly feeding in the alders

12+ Bullfinch, a few Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 2 Nuthatch and Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits

1 Goldcrest

1 Sparrowhawk flythrough

Ski Lake, Canal and River

I only managed a brief check of these. It is a shame that the lake is so difficult to view in it's entirety.

1 drake Goldeneye

1 drake Tufted Duck

2 Little Grebe

5+ Grey Heron

1 Coot

1 Moorhen

3 Mute Swan

100+ smaller gulls on the ski-lake ice

5 Cormorant flyovers

Cromwell Bottom

 A quite an amazing find yesterday for MS with a Firecrest photographed down there. Hopefully we'll be able to get some photo's on at some point. Well done Mike. Siskins in the area as well and hopefully a few Redpoll with them.

Baitings

 Baitings today:-

Fieldfare 2,  Mistle thrush 2,  Blackbird 2m,  Mallard 5,  Stock dove 2,  Robin 1,  Magpie 1,  Carrion crow 5

(With views like these, who would not want to live in Calderdale - even if we do have to work for our birds?)

Wheatley Valley and Shroggs reclaimed landfill

 Another good walk around the valley this afternoon but it was pretty scarce on birds. A very cold strong >NE with persistent snow flurries probably didn't help.

1 Sparrowhawk mobbed by a couple of Jackdaws was about the best.

Lane Ends produced a mass of Jackdaws, maybe 180+. Might be going on there tomorrow, with the camera this time, and try get a more accurate count from photos. Jackdaws must nowadays be one of our commonest birds in Calderdale (?) - I wonder.

Hardly any finches about down here though the tree planted landfill site is good for Bullfinch with 8+ at times.

Cold Edge dams

 Just over a couple of hours doing the rounds up there from Wainstalls as far as The Withens and back via a different route

27 species..

1 Meadow Pipit >E

14 Lapwings >E

20 Greylag Geese outnumbered the 16 Canadas

1 Moorhen

6 Redwings

20+ Blackbirds scattered around

Sparrowhawk display nearby was quite amazing to watch

Plus a few other 'bits and pieces'

Looking far, across to Soil Hill in the center

Some pretty wet tracks still after all the recent snow

Next lot of clouds building over the wind-farm

Moselden

Peregrine south over Moselden today, looks like an immature/ 1st winter bird? Cheers

Shibden Valley

 I photographed this Sparrowhawk on 30 October last year.

Redpolls

 Reports of redpolls coming to a number of garden feeders in the Hebden Bridge area, including 3 on my feeders at Jumble Hole for the last 9 days. Been here 18 years and don't recall having had them on the feeders before. 

Todmorden, Sunday 31st January

One M with two F Goosander in the River Calder behind the market hall in the afternoon - not something I've seen very often. 

Also a Dipper in the river just before the Halifax Road bridge at Springs Garage.

Green Withens

very cold up here this morning, with the moor covered in frost carrion crow 5 twite 16 mallard 3 pink footed goose 40+ west high herring gull 3 wood pigeon 6 peregrine 2 dipper 1 nice to meet phil d and partner very enjoyable chat

Wheatley Valley

Usual route around the valley for a couple of hours this morning including the landfill site and around Ovenden Wood where the brewery used to be.

Birds in song included 3 Song Thrush, 3 Mistle Thrush, several Robins, Great Tit and a Nuthatch.

Finches still in short supply apart from 2 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch and 6 Bullfinch

4 noisy Jays, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker and a mass of corvids in one very wet field included 120 Jackdaws.

In the garden during the afternoon turned up a Peregrine high overhead towards Halifax and a Sparrowhawk in the opposite direction.

Cold Edge

 A couple of hours around the dams area this afternoon. Weather a bit dull but milder than recently and no rain.

The area was a bit quiet but I enjoyed it all the same.

Highlight was a flock of 22 Golden Plover overhead towards the wind-farm.

I had a good search for Little Owl and Stonechat but if they were there they evaded me

3 Moorhen

8 Greylag Geese in with 37 Canadas

1 Kestrel

6 Fieldfare

2 Redwings

8 Bullfinch together feeding in the heather then later in the small plantation by the lower dam.

Plus usual species including plenty of vocals from Red Grouse on the edge of the moor

21 Collared Doves - pre roost gathering near 'The Delvers' (though this is quite a small number compared with some counts in the autumn from (BS)

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

Everyone is invited to take part this coming weekend.

Take part 29th-31st January. 

Enjoy an hour with nature and discover the wildlife on your doorstep. It will probably be mentioned this week on Winter Watch as well - thinks it's Tues till Friday 8pm BBC2.

Further details at rspb.org.uk

Wheatley Valley

It's certainly been a quite challenging winter period with the 'lockdown' and the wet/cold/snowy and icy weather. Certainly tough for wildlife too with short daylight hours for feeding and foraging coupled with long dark cold nights for roosting. 

Despite this we have had quite a few reports over Calderdale of active Barn Owls during the daytime along with a few Little Owl and a couple of Short-eared Owls.

I've not ventured much further than the local patch, within walking distance - Wheatley Valley. Quite built up in some areas but there is the former landfill site along Shroggs Road, presently a very wet and boggy grassland and a slightly drier woodland. Some walks took us towards and beyond the former Webster's Brewery at Ovenden Wood and the Hebble Brook area. Shame about such a lot of discarded rubbish in places !

Best bird for me in this New Year was a Woodcock, flushed from grassland but it was away at pace - as they do. Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and  a few Nuthatches as well but hardly any finches other than Goldfinch and Bullfinch both of which do not appear to be in short supply. A reasonable number of Blue/Great/Coal and  a few Long-tailed Tits in the landfill woodland and the valley areas as well as garden feeders.

A Grey Heron in the stream at the bottom of Brackenbed this morning was a bit of a surprise. Also a Mistle Thrush singing and a single Raven high overhead 'croncking'. Not many thrush species about around here other than Blackbirds. I was watching a Redwing this morning - it only just evaded capture by a Magpie at the last gasp ! 3 Fieldfare were also in Shroggs Park last week along with a few more Redwings. 

Just one skein of Pink-footed Geese recently with 65 >W (BS) on Saturday. Also a Water Rail today (GS) - an elusive bird at the best of times and certainly a scarce bird nowadays in Calderdale. 

22 very noisy Herring Gulls were flying around North Bridge for 10 mins or so at first light this morning. I'm not sure - but I did wonder if they had roosted on the roof of the Leisure Centre ! Always something to enjoy (and often puzzle about) when you're out and about. I just try not to miss whatever happens  !!

 During lockdown last week I decided to have a go at videoing some birds in the back garden. Never having done that before it was quite an experience. I used my bridge camera through the glass of the window upstairs. This Song Thrush was the first one I'd ever seen in my garden. 

Sorry about the advert in the bottom right corner. I have no association with Power Director except to have tried their free video editor.

Shibden Valley

 Male Green woodpecker feeding in a frosty field