Record count

Today there were 47 Collared doves in back garden ..a record count,I reckon there is a roost some where in Chelsea valley of over 100.?????

Wind of Change

Its been 9 years at Northowram and there have been some great birds mostly seen from the house,Honey Buzzard,White Stork(the 2 that tried to breed in West yorks)Snow Buntings(2),Jack Snipe,Whooper and Bewicks Swans,Ruff,Whimbrel etc and I have learned the beauty of Vis mig an amazing aspect of real birding.(not switching on the computer and then getting in your car and hey ho bingo a real rare bird id'd by someone else..pointless on a regular basis)Well over 200 moth species(with at least 8 new for Calderdale) in the back garden and the largest gatering of Ghost Moths in Yorkshire viewed out of the bedroom window.Ringlet,Gatekeeper, White letter and Purple Hairstreaks only a walk to the local wood .

A bit of Vis

Woodpigeon 457 west
Starling 154 west/n/west
Redwing 54 west/n/west
Fieldfare 30 west
snipe 1 west and 1 blogger
female sparrowhawk displaying for 25 mins with full stoops and fluffed out undertail coverts and Collared Doves copulating in back garden.???

Weekend in the lakes

December Moth and feathered Thorn

Sprawler
A great weekend in the lakes with a couple of nights trapping produced
Sprawler x2
December Moth x 4
Pine Carpet x 1
Merville du Jour x 2
Silver Y x 1
November Moth agg x 30+
Feathered Thorn x 3
Yellow Line Quaker x 3
Brick x 2
Chestnut x 3
Dark sword Grass x 1
Loads of Buzzards,perrys,Sparrowhawks,Bar wits,Oyks,and ranvens over the house and a few RED SQUIRELS(always nice to see)They have a hot line to ring if you see a Grey sq ,they come out an exterminate the problem pity we dont have one in Calderdale.

Streak

Another good night in Northowram despite the torrential rain,ngle Shades,Red the Streak one of my favorite moths at this time of year was joined by 3 Yellow Line Quaker,2 brick,Angle shades,red green,Spruce,autumn green. and Common Marbled carpets,Blairs Sh Knot,Silver Y ,Light Brown apple moth,Garden rose tort and acleris sparsana

Last few Days

Little to report on the vis front except for the continued movment of Starlings w/n/w there must have been about 2000 since last thursday.Mostly in small squadrons of about 50+.The local starlings seem to wheel about between the buildings and the movers are direct,low and fast.
Made it to Ringstone today 175 Goldies,20 lapwing,1 Snipe,6 Grey parrtridge and 2 moorhen,and at EGP 20 Tufted Duck,Kingfisher,GCGrebe and a Shoveler.

No vis but lots of moths

No vis this morning except 123 + 14 + 20 Starlings west,10 Mipits south and 1 SISKIN south,I could hear Redwings but didnt see any. A bumper night in the moth trap,produced my latest snout by 3 weeks....
998 Epiphyas postvittana Light Brown Apple Moth 8
1041 Acleris sparsana 1
1048 Acleris variegana Garden Rose Tortrix 2
1760 Chloroclysta siterata Red-green Carpet 2
1764 Chloroclysta truncata Common Marbled Carpet 4
1769 Thera britannica Spruce Carpet 3
1795x Epirrita dilutata agg. November Moth agg. 4
2232 Aporophyla nigra Black Rustic 3
2240 Lithophane leautieri Blair's Shoulder-knot 6
2262 Agrochola circellaris Brick 1
2264 Agrochola macilenta Yellow-line Quaker 2
2272 Xanthia aurago Barred Sallow 1
2361 Hydraecia micacea Rosy Rustic 1
2441 Autographa gamma Silver Y 2
2477 Hypena proboscidalis Snout 1

What a difference a day makes.....

Same counting period as yesterday
Starling 5 small squadrons = 102west
Redwing 7 small groups = 117 s/w
Bullfinch 1 male very high south
GS woodpecker 2 together very high south
Grey wag 1 very high south
Fieldfare 4 west
Jay 1 low south
1 male Sparrowhawk ,10 Golfinch and 5 mipits blogging.1 red admiarl also.Tomorrow may be big vis.??

And so they came.............(about 2000 an hour)

Emley Moor to the s/s/e

A distant Holme moss radio mast

Perfect Vis Mig conditions looking s/s/e

Redwings were every where from first light,7.30 -8.30 at least 2000 were heading s/w... from 8.30 - 9,15 ...another 1875 were counted,700 + Starlings west,550 woodpigeon west.2 Great spotted woodpecker north,a flock of 20 Chaffinch n/w,20+ Mipits s/w ,1 field fare north,8 blackbirds west.Amazing ....33 a minute or 1 every 2 seconds for nearly 2 hours thats a lot of counting and i missed loads cos of the sheer numbers of birds moving.

Redwings and Starlings

The first thing I noticed this morning were small groups of stalings on the move low west from 8.00 till 10.00 along with the first big move of Redwings.A few waders are allways nice to see at this waterless site.
Starlings 458 all low west
Redwing 550 s/s/w
Golen plover 10+7 (17)west
Snipe 6 together west
Great sopt wood 1 south
Jay 2 south
Woodpigeon 70 west
Blackbid 2 south(high and calling)

More Pinkies

90 west at about 1.15 today along with 4 TEAL heading east 5 minutes later a new garden tick.The goldfinch flock is now at 50 + and there was an influx of Jackdaws and Starlings all heading west.Redwings should be in evidence over the weekend.

Are these the last

3 swallows north ? today,2 Little Owls in the field , 30 magpies,and 20 Golfinch.The only birds of note today.

Sallow Kittens Pupate

Of the 70 or so Sallow Kitten cats that hatched five have reached pupation.The pic shows two side by side.I wonder how they would have done in the wild.

Woodpigeons on the move

The first move of woodpigs today with a 20+44+12+11 + single figure flocks =120 west
Snipe 3 + 1+1 = 5
Grey wag 1
Alba wag 2
Mipit 2
Common gull 1
LBBgull all s/w
Looked perfect for Pinkfeet today but not 1.maybe this evening.

MOON

All for One snipe (Dross - over)

Terrible morning , although Mipits 120 w/s/w were on the move very little else materialised,40 magpies,50 Jackdaw,38 Collared dove N/w ??,8 Blackbirds,25 Feral Pigeon,100+ racing pigeon,2jays,1Kestrel,10 chaffinch s/w, and just as I d had enough 1 Common Snipe flew east.

One by One they came

A real cracker of a morning started with a steady stream of meadow pipits going s/w the largest flock of 35(70 + in all),1 lBBGull n/w then 1 Pink footed Goose n/w,1 Great spotted Woodpecker south,1 Blackbird high s/w,2 swallows s/w,1 Redwing s/w and then an amazing Snow Bunting which flew in from the n/w flew round the field twice before heading off s/w.Thats my second snow Bunt in 9 years at this site.

Crossover

Its always good to reach the crossover time ,this is when you get the last of the summer migrants in the form of 2 Swallows s/w today and 17 Pink footed geesewest last night ( the start of the winter migrants coming to us for the winter).October should see the invasion of redwings ,fieldfares and pinKfeet and by the end of the month Woodpigeons

Fieldfare

I herd my first fieldfare this morning heading south followed closely by 2 +1 +1 Jays a Great spotted woodpecker,12 Meadow pipits,42 Golfinch and then a male Sparrowhawk.

The one that got away......

In the early morning gloom a raptor appeared over the local wood,my initial thought was a buzzard the visibility was terrible with misted binns,but it was clearly an accipiter with very broad wings it stooped and dissapeared never to be seen again.It had to be a Goshawk but with not enough to clinch it ,it will have to be 'THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY'drattttttt.The local Goldfinch flock now stands at 38,a Cormorant flew low s/w,40 Meadow pipits s/w and a Song thrush in the back garden made for a very interesting morning.

FOGGED OFF

Thick fog and drizzle put paid to any early vis,only managed a Chaffinch,1Swallow.LBBGul and 2 Meadow pipits in the gloom.Then had to take the kids to footie in todmorden which still had House Martins feeding young on the sports hall.On the way back had to dodge Godley cutting cos of ongoing roadworks and had to go over Shibden 1 Raven was a real bonus flying towards shibden Head.

Tuesday morning

5 swallows and 14 Pied wagtails s/w at 9.05.

First Pink Feet and Sallow Kitten Update

Had my first skien of Pinkfeet over this evening with 56 west at about 6.30.Very quiet on the vis front this week with 38 Mipits on Friday , Grey Wag over on Thursday21 Goldfinch,Common Gull a small influx of Goldcrests and Blackbirds over the weekend. A femal Sparrowhawk flushed 34 magpies and 26 Collared Doves from next door which was a bit of a suprise .Looks better this week with the wind going s/w.
Out of the 30 Sallow Kitten cats that hatched I have 12 left this one photo'd is the largest and looking well.Gonna let um go down at Ellend soon.

When is a canal tow Path not a canal Tow path.????

When its a ROAD....???? I went for a run today along my favorite bit of canal ,long tailed Tits,floating around,Tree creeper,Kingfisher,Grey Heron Jays etc beautiful autumn sunshine and then turned the corner into roadworks.???Why are they building a road on the Canal towpath,has the world gone MAD, how have they got permission to build a road next to a LNR,I can only concluded peoples shoes are so expensive that the council have decided to get rid of all footpaths and build roads,the off road bikers will be over the moon about this ,a tarmack race course around the local nature reserve.Dear O Dear O dear.This is the end as we know it......................ahhhhhhhh....dont forget to tarmac those horrible old cobbled bits they are so uneven... our new pram form Next/harvy Nicks might buckle its wheels....tarmac our heritage....w*****s.

Jays

5 Jays drifted south this morning the largest group Ive seen for some time 2 swallows the only birds of note.A cracking week on the Moth frount with Frosted orange,Black rustic,Rosy Rustic,Lunar Underwing,Angle Shades and a Silver Y feeding on Lavendar in the front garden

Honey Buzzard......!!!!!

A very quiet start to the morning with clear skies and only a distant flock of 5 large finches(poss Crossbills).At about 8.30 cloud moved over from the n/w,immediatly things picked up 10 LBBGull moved west 15 Swallows s/w,3 House Martin west,Meadow Pipits s/w, 1 Mistle thrush high south , 4 chaffinch and then a large raptor moveing south over coley garden Centre as soon as I got it in the scope i knew it was a Honey its head sticking out and looking like a cukcoo.gliding on flat wings with a couple of powerfull beats and then back to a glide.as it got above EGPits it turned giving excellent views of buldging secondries and long narrow tail with central kink..It then fanned its tail an turned as it was now being mobbed by swallows.Then glided and dissapeared low towards the gravel pits not to be seen again...Very very nice.

Weekly round - up

A round up of casual observations this week started on Monday with a good movement of Swallows and Meadow Pipits and a single Common Gull,Tuesday was the same but a House Martin stood out as the bird of the day.On Wenesday Chaffinchs seem to be every where moving south /west and a influx into the garden ,with alba wags and 1 Geat Spotted Woodpecker.Thursday was Chaffinchs again and a single Tree Pipit heading south at 8.25 and another Great spot s/w . The bird of the week(so far) was a Spotted Flycatcher herd calling from next doors rowan,It gave reasonable views before dissapearing down the valley

Back garden Vis

An excellent morning with a real mipit push s/w.
Meadow pipit 248 S/w
Swallow 109 s/w
Cormorant 1 west then east
Canada goose 19 low s/w
Sparrowhawk 3 hunting(2 f & 1 m)
Stock dove 8 s/w
alba wag 3 s/w(1 poss white on call)+ 10 blogers
Mistle Thrush 4 s/w
Blackbird high 1 s/w
GBB Gull 3 west
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 local
Steady trickle of Woodpigeons west 40+
Goldfinch 20+ local
Chaffinch 3 high s/w
BHGull 61 s/w

Sallow Kitten

This sallow kitten larvae hatched from some eggs I was given a couple of weeks ago.They are feeding on ......yes sallow.I have also found a load of Common lutstering larvae in folded leaves of birch which I let go just before I went away to Ireland,glad to see they survived.

Back garden Vis

7 till 8,an excellent morning ,with a real autumn feel.
5 Cormorant west
51 Meadow Pipit s/w
80+ Swallows s/w
71 BHGull s/w
7 LBBGull south
2 common Gull south
1 alba wag south(5 bloggers)
1 Oystercatcher south
2 Stock dove s/w
50 + Goldfinch and 5 Linnet over (local flock)local Sparrowhawk between the houses.