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.

Sand martin

Found a Sand martin today in the middle of a group of swallows feeding frantically over a small patch of mud/water.Also 8 Linnets,2 Goldfinch,1 Greenfinch and 1 Cole Tit flying directly s/e about 50ft up calling.

Back garden Vis

7- 8 bad conditions with the wind and rain but hey - ho.
1 House martin
3 Swallows
1 Meadow Pipit (first of the autumn here)
1 Common Gull
1 LBBGull
8 BH GUll
1 Stock Dove
1 alba wag
all s/w

Tree Pipit

One Tree Pipit over the house calling loudly this morning heading due south at 8ish,a few swallows s/w,one Goldcrest calling from next doors garden (the first of the autumn)1 LBBGull west and 20 BHGull s/w.

Co- ordinated Vis mig dates

September Meadow Pipits and Swallows (Sunday 27th September)

October Redwings (Sunday 18th October)

November Starlings, Fieldfares and Woodpigeons (Sunday 1st November)

Swallows on the move

Today I was in the garden most of the day a continual movement of swallows was noted all day with a massive increase around 7ish.there must have been well inexess of 1000 birds all going south west.A few small groups of House martins and the odd LBBGull were the only other birds of note.

Ireland

All records of this rare species have been since 2004. Its upland heath and grass habitats are varied and apparently not very specialised, so more colonies might yet be found.

Bordered Grey male(national scarce A) This was found at a new site in the S/W of Donegal.Thanks to Donegal Moths for the map and very usefull info.

Swifts

65 Swifts low north moving very fast today at 9.50and the first congreation of BHGulls on the cricket pitch 30 BH and 1 Common.

Crossbills

25 Crossbills calling loudly over the house this morning at 8.50 heading due south.30BHGull west and 10 swifts west.

On the move

Things have started to move at last with BHGull,LBBGull and good numbers of Swifts and House Martins on the move this week.Also the garage door has been closed for the first time in 7 weeks when the 2 Blackbird chicks finally fledged on Monday.They used the old nest to roost next to for the first 2 nights and then gone.I have seen both feeing well on the back lawn today.

Ha Ha

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION ==

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.

Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead

Last few Days in Northowram

Last friday I had 2 Small groups of Canada Geese a 6 and a 7 heading high north in the middle of the 7 was a Greylag which is a first for me here.1 Oystercatcher over the house yesterday morning calling louldly and a few swifts on the move yesterday evening.On the 10th a WHITETHROAT could be herd calling from the front garden,now that a garden tick.

Bee

I think this is a Andrena cineraria.A very hansom Bee.Also if anyone could id the plant its on I would be most grateful.

Scotland

Lunar Brown

Pale Prominent

Chequered Skipper
To say it rained Sat - Wens and one car with 3 Kids in the back scrapping all the time it didnt turn out bad.
Moths,Pale Prominent,Small Argent and sable,Scorched Wing,Nut tree tussock,May Highflyer,Lunar Brown,Nut tree tussock and Least Black Arches.
Birds...Osprey(loads)Golden Eagle(1),White Tailed Eagle(1)Black Thraoated Dive(2adults)Black Guillimot(loads)Wood warbler,Pied Fly,
Mammals....Pine Martin(a beauty)Otter(2)Red Squirel (3)
Butterflies....Chequered Skipper(12)Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary,Small Copper,Orange Tip and Green Veined White.

Its Grim up Notrh

The strong wind and rain seem to have besieged Northowram for the last week with little chance of getting out.From the house today
20 Swifts N/w
3 LBBGull West
4 GBBGull west
10 Swallows N/w
4 Linnets

More Swifts

Loads more Swifts going north today along with Swallows and the odd H.Martin.Also Whitethroat singing its heart outback for its 3rd year.

Swifts

With the November weather kicking in, it has forced the moving swifts low over the village today with small parties on the mopve all day.House Martins and 2 LBBGull west as well,Sparrowhawks have been seen this week carrying food(house Sparrow and Collared Dove)to as yet an unfound nest site.Linnets again feeding in the front garden.

Just out of interest

No-one yet knows whether swine flu will become a global pandemic, but it is becoming clear where it came from – most likely a giant pig factory farm run by an American multinational corporation in Veracruz, Mexico.
These factory farms are disgusting and dangerous, and they're rapidly multiplying. Thousands of pigs are brutally crammed into dirty warehouses and sprayed with a cocktail of drugs -- posing a health risk to more than just our food -- they and their manure lagoons create the perfect conditions to breed dangerous new viruses like swine flu. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) must investigate and develop regulations for these farms to protect global health.

Another Buzzard

Another Buzzard today over the house,sent the local corvid population a bit crazy.Sparrowhawk,Linnets in the garden,Swallows,Chiff and Bcaps.