Covenham area...

Its rare these days to see an Adult Male Hen Harrier hunting over open farmland , so today was a red letter day indeed .A beautiful male flew within 20 feet from where I was walking. With juv Peregrine and  Merlin , adult female Sparrowhawk , 3 Buzzards , and plenty of Kestrels I classed it as a good raptor day. Green Sandpiper , Little Egret , 3 Barn Owls  , 41 Pinks headed north /west and 10 Whoopers were loafing  around in a stubble field.......

Local fields

A walk round the local fields today produced 10 Goldfinch , 23 Starling , 70 Jackdaw , 14 Rook, 20 Carrion Crow , 2 Magpie , 6 Blackbirds , 30 Common Gull , 15 BH Gull , 2 Herring Gulls headed west and the highlight of the day 3 Common Buzzards displaying in the valley. Some other good news were 2 Little Owls near a former nest site that was turned in to a house..

Grebes

Slav Grebes

North Lincolnshire

Dropped into Cleethorpes country park on the way to Covenham reservoir to see a Red Necked Grebe which I have not seen for a few years. It showed very well and  as I was a bit short of time I headed off after taking in all the id points. To my surprise there were also  2 Slavonian grebes on the same lake ,so I gave them a good looking at and headed off.
    Covenham was covered in boats so all the birds kept on being flushed and this made viewing difficult. Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebe showed well making 4 grebes in a day but the Black necked reported earlier on in the week was not showing,  the highlight was 23 male Goldeneye calling and displaying in the south east corner. A couple of Little Egrets flew in front of the car as I headed on. A large flock of Yellowhammer (30+) caught  my eye and after a few minutes looking through them a couple of Corn Buntings popped into view, A juv female Peregrine was watched chasing crows and a large flock of lapwing (400+)was about it...................

 

Northowram today

Plenty of Common Gulls about today along with 10 Mallards  and 25 Starlings. 12 Goldfinch , plenty of |Blackbirds along the tall hedge but the highlights were a Common Buzzard and a Woodcock flushed from the field edge.
 A walk round Fly Flatts produced 2 Red Grouse , 4 Carrion Crow and 20 Mallard.....and a male Peregrine over Pellon Lane.

Hodbarrow RSPB Cumbria

Not one of the RSPB'S best looked after reserves in fact its well run down ,but between the concrete pillars and old iron works is an unsung gem......nestled at the head of the Duddon estuary a massive sea wall protects the reserve from the sea .
  The car park is a bit like Fairburn with loads of Coots , Mute Swan ,Mallards and BH Gulls as you take the path to the sea wall ,Song Thrush seem pretty  common. A flock of 52 Twite was very obliging with close views beautiful orange breasts and the occasional flash of  pink rumps, 100's of noisy Pinks overhead heading north.
  The  main lake was busy and a  Slavonian Grebe in winter plumage was the first decent bird closely followed by a Great Northern Diver flapping its wings and standing upright in the water. Small groups of Goldeneye , 100's of Teal and a few Widgeon. Red breasted Merganser and Goosander added to the winter spectacle.200 Lapwing ,Curlew ,Golden Plover , Shelduck , Redshank, Dunlin , Knot , Ringed Plover busily feeding on the estuary side. A lone Red- throated Diver was feeding out at sea. Another look through the masses of common ducks and Coots produced 3 female / juv Scaup all diving at the same time beautiful. All this with the back drop of The Lake District National Park..........

The Year so far...............

Been bloody hard going to be honest...Green Sandpiper was good at Jay house lane along with Dipper ,  Tree Sparrows, Nuthatch , Goldcrest   and Reed Buntings close by . Snipe , Lapwings , little  Owl , Siskin , lots of Goldeneye around and a singing Mistle Thrush is all I can muster this week  locally.

Askam in Furness Cumbria

It was a wet start with the ground underfoot saturated with overnight rain. The calls of Pink footed geese , Oystercatcher , Widgeon and Curlew were ringing in my ears, a great way to start any day.
A couple of Bar tailed Godwits flew up the estuary and soon followed by a flock of Dunlin one Sanderling was hidden in with them.
  A flock of 500 + Pintail was drifting in the turning tide with the same amount of Shelduck just behind them..A flock of dark geese turned out to be Barnacle Geese 62 in total.In with these was a Blue Morph Snow Goose its white head and orange/ pink bill sticking out in the crowd. Was it from
across the pond or from the local farm.??? It was great to find and observe whatever.
   Soon after this a Juvenile female Peregrine was seen powering down the estuary and  'wack'  straight into a male Goldeneye , the Goldeneye fell in to the water..Then the Peregrine landed on top of the Goldeneye and held it underwater till it was dead. At this point all  the commotion caused the attention of 3 GBBgulls to move in on the juv.Then out of nowhere an adult male Peregrine started bombing the Gulls again and again till they moved on.The juv then took the  Goldeneye to the sand bank and started to pluck it.........
    

Slow Start

Went for the Green Sand this morning but no show, Tree Sparrows showing well and a singing Dipper at Wellhome park was very vocal. Song and Mistle Thrush in good voice and a herring Gull over west. 3 Goldeneye . Little Owl , Red Grouse and Fieldfare at Cold edge this afternoon with NCD and his new Zeiss Bins..( very bright and excellent field of view)...

Duddon Moss

Pintail 1200 +
Widgeon  600 +
Shelduck  500 +
Pink footed Geese  800 +
Oystercatcher  1000 +
Curlew 500 +
Dunlin   500 +
Redshank   500 +
Knot , Greenshank , Green Sandpiper , Red Breasted Merganser ,|Barnacle Geese , Goosander ,
Goldeneye  and a Peregrine.....The oddest thing ive seen this year was a flock of about 35 Twite ,30 Linnets , 8 Pied Wagtail , 1 Grey Wagtail and 5 Meadow Pipits..feeding on an area very similar to Soil Hill next to the estuary...the odd thing was right in the middle of this lot was a Common Chiffchaff feeing on the ground flicking its tail and hoping around...I thought it must have been something else but continued close views through the scope confirmed it to be a Chiffy....very odd.

Ogden , Raggalds and Starlings

62 lapwing opposite the Ye old Raggalds along with 245 Staling and 11 Common Gull. 5 Goldcrest , 10LTTTits 2 Mipits , 7 Bullfinch , 1 male Sparrowhawk ,  and the usual at Ogden...........The main event this week has been the influx of Continental Starlings with at least 2000 + noted throughout the week ,  tight fast flying flocks of between 14 and 175 have been noted heading west all week ....

Good local vis/////////////

Woodpigeon       854 s/w
Starling a continual move of small groups with the largest 108 and a total of   235 due west
Golden Plover 25 north over the house then found at shelf moor later.
Lapwing 6 north over the house with 48 at shelf moor later
Chaffinch    1 flock of 26 south
Goldfinch     5 south
GBBGull  2 west pretty scarce these days
LBBGull  48 west steady move all morning largest group 11
Herring Gull 135 west  steady move all morning largest group 17
Fieldfare 14 south
Redwing 9 south
Meadow Pipit 2 south

Covenham res........late november

A lot quieter than my last visit but still managed  ---
Cormorant ......247
Widgeon           75
Gadwall             11
Pochard                2
Redshank            2
Hen Harrier  (ringtail)       1
Whooper Swan     3 + 12 + 1 + 10
Peregrine              1
Little Grebe         2
Little Egret          2
Skylark 23 , Linnet 46 , Bullfinch 2 , Brambling 1 , Kingfisher ,+ common species

Mistle Thrush winter song

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mztp0

Covenham Reservoir area (lincs)

On and around  the reservoir

Great Crested Grebe     70 +
Gadwall                          20 +
Shoveler                          30 +
Widgeon                          100 +
Teal                                 2
Scaup                              2
Tufted Duck                    200 +
Goldeneye                       150 +
Mallard                           200 +
Pintail                               2
Coot                                300 +
Cormorant                       284
Pied Wagtail                      14
Meadow Pipit                  38
Redshank                         1
Greylag Goose                43
Pink Footed Goose           1

Vis Mig

Pink footed Goose   south  2000 +
Whooper Swan            22 + 4  (26) south
Fieldfare                       745   west
Starling                          400 west
Brambling                     8
Redwing                       120

Surrounding Fields

Green Sandpiper                1
Short eared Owl                1
Peregrine (juv)                   1
Barn Owl                            1
Marsh harrier   (juv Fem)                      1
Buzzards           Common
Merlin                                       1 
Yellowhammer 40 +
Tree Sparrow 30    +
Redd Bunting         Common

Thursday

2 Buzzards around most of the morning and a Sprawk hunting Chaffinch around mid - day. More Fieldfare , Redwing and Starlings heading south,,,,

Afternoon vis

Lots of Redwings and Fieldfare on the move this afternoon also a large group of Continental Starlings headed west....

Fen Farm ....

A couple of days in Lincolnshire
Pinkfeet were moving south in good numbers
Skiens south 278 + 35 + 78 + 135 + 50 + 13
Whooper Swan    4 south
Golden Plover      100 +
Green Sandpiper   1
Little Egret           2
Marsh Harrier      2
Blackcap              1
Yellowhammer     36
Tree Sparrow       20
Merlin                   1
Barn owl                 1
Corn Bunting         11

Vis Mig ......(at last)

Its been a slow autumn for Vis - mig with all the fog and today was just the same early  doors..But at 11ish a  flock of Redwing north got things going
Redwing 850 + north
Fieldfare 22 North
Chaffinch   18 south
Siskin         24 south
Buzzard    1 high west
Pink footed geese 134 (photo count)  west
Mipits       27 south
Jay          1 south
Great spot    1 south
Bunting sp    1 high south
Herring Gull   2 north

LRP breeding in Calderdale 2015

A few from earlier this year

Merlin Walney Island Cumbria March

A good year for Whoopers

 

Bufftip back garden July

Ocherous Pug 1st for Calderdale Hardcastle Craggs April.

Rook and ringstone

Juv Peregrine hunting gulls , 2 Widgeon , 4 Teal , 1 Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk

Fly Flatts / Haworths Minor

I had 44 + today at Fly flats feeding on Ragwort very close to the reservoir  some very tatty individuals but some quite smart ones too. A few Black Darter , 1 Silver Y , 1 Small Tortoiseshell and a large moth over the moor which was unidentifiable.............. 1 Widgeon , 2 Wheatear , 20 Mipits , 1 Kestrel , 1 Golden Plover and 4 LBBGulls.............

Shieldbugs in Calderdale 2015

Hawthorn

Forest

Hairy

Birch

Ringstone 2 nd October

2 Widgeon , 3 Teal , 9 Golden Plover 45 lapwing , 70 Goldfinch , 3 Linnet , 1 Cormorant , 1 Little Grebe , 1 Chiffchaff , 84 Swallow , 2 House Martin , 1 Grey heron10 Snipe.....

Its Autumn

Keep an eye/ear out

2nd October 2015

48 Small Tortoiseshell
3 Painted Lady
4 Red Admiral
2 Small White
8 Speckled Wood
6 Silver Y
On my local walk around Hedge top lane fields....(October??)

testing