Ringstone

1 Little Owl , 1 Little Grebe , 12 Snipe , 2 Teal , 9 Golden Plover , 1 Buzzard , 237 Lapwing ,1 Chiffchaff , 8 Golfinch , 1 Grey Wagtail ,  1 Swallow ,  25 meadow Pipit , 1 Cormorant ,1 Skylark ,30 BH Gull, 2 Common Gull 8 Herring Gull  over south ,3 Linnet  and 40 Canada Goose.

Hard Going

Its been a bit of a slog this last week .with little to show for a lot of effort..Highlights Plenty of local Buzzards . a willow warbler on the 26th , Skylark , 54 Mipits in the fields and up to 80 Goldfinch and 3 Linnets. Ringstone last friday help 2 Widgeon , 9 Teal ,3 Goldies ,8 Snipe and over 200 Lapwing ,1 Chiff and a long slog round fly produced 2 Wheatear................

Ringstone in the rain..

Not much different today , with 9 Teal , 20 + Mallard , 1 Cormorant , 10 Swallow 100 Lapwing and 10 Snipe.....

Ringstone

Not much shoreline left but a couple of Snipe , 9 Teal  , , Grey heron , 57  BH Gull and 1 Herring and 1 Common.158 Lapwing ,11 Pied Wags , 1 White Wag and 2 grey Wagtail along the dam wall.2 Willow Warblers and a chiff in the garden .100 Swallow , 20 House Martin and 3 Sand Martins dropped in and that was about it....................3 Red Admiral , 1 Small Copper , 2 Small White , and 10 Small tortoiseshell

Nowt then a Hobby

Went out this morning thinking it must be a good vis day 1 Buzzard , 5 meadow pipit , 2 House martins and 6 Swallows south was I could muster in a couple of hours.....Then at about 6.50 a steady stream of BH Gulls started heading north then out of nowhere a Hobby headed low north only a silhouette but  my only Calderdale one this year (so far)..A male goosander  low over Sainsburys car park was a first.

Ringstone again

With the shoreline starting to show , I gave it another try today and struck lucky with 3 Ruff ,1 male and 2 females ,1 Common sand and plenty of BH Gulls and Lapwing.

Ringstone......

3 Common Sands , 1 Widgeon  and 2 Singing Chiffchaff was a bit of a surprise  today and made me wonder what time of year it was ??  Not much else , 20 Mipits , 14 Linnet , 8 Mallard , 1 Teal , 4 Pied Wags 100 BH Gull and 150 Lapwing..............

What a difference a day makes

9 Meadow pipit , 5 Swallows , 38 Goldfinch , , 4 Pied and 3 grey Wagtails and 14 Canada Geese have moved into the fields.....

Wryneck

When you get a text ,,Wryneck at Scammonden you have to go asap, I have missed Yellow Browed ,Woodlark ,Richards Pipit and Wryneck over the last few years so I had to give it a go. I had done all my work for the day and set off straight away.  A Lewis Hamilton drive and I was on the way down to Scammonden.
  I got out of the car bins and scope at the ready, a  bird flushed from the floor and landed about 8 feet away in a small birch tree..well blow me down a WRYNECK showed well for about 2 minutes then flew low down into the Rowan tree about 20 feet away. JB (the finder) turned up , at this point it flew onto the road but was then flushed by a car , and was not seen again..
  We then headed of down the track which was teaming with migrants..John headed off to have a look  at another spot and left me where he had first found the Wryneck...15 - 20 Spotted Flycatcher , 4 Redstarts , 2 Whinchat, 15 - 20 Chiffchaff , 1 Tree pipit , 2 Buzzard , 1 Sparrowhawk , 2 Willow Warbler , 8+ Blackcap and a flock of 15 Siskin....Brilliant ..Many thanks to JB....
   

Sunday....

Started with a small flock of 35 Goldfinch , 11 Linnets and 30 Starling in and around the cricket pitches. A singing Chiffchaff was in the tall hedge and a trickle of mipits overhead.1Whinchat on the lower fence put in a brief appearance. The highlights were a small group of 5 Cormorants north and a Raven east..... 1 Jay ,  1 juv great spot and 40 + Swallows were in and around the horse fields....

Wednesday

Not a bad day started with 2 Goldcrest , 1 Willow Warbler , 1 Chiffchaff , 6 Meadow pipit headed high south. 55 Swallow and 20 House martins , 1 Wheatear  , 2 Whinchat (1 juv and an adult male different from the adult female which has been kicking around).Buzzards herd mewing and one landed on the telegraph pole outside the house then flew low over the cricket pitch (wow).1 great spot , 1 Jay and 4 linnets.

France 2

Highlights...


Birds...A flock of 32 Black - necked Grebes was the most I have ever seen together , Melodious Warbler , Dartford Warbler , Lesser Pecker in the garden along with singing Short toed treecreeper most mornings. Loads of  Purple herons , Night herons , , Crested Larks ,Whimbrel and Blackwits, Spoonbills , Black wing stilts , wood san and little stints , fan tailed warbles and cetties warblers.
Butterflies... Long -tailed and Marazine Blue , Meadow , Glanville , Silver washed , marsh and Knapweed fritillarys , Brown hairstreak , Swallow tails ,White Admiral , Sooty and Small Coppers
Moths...Pine tree Lappet , Beautiful Hook Tip , Scorched Carpet , Burnet Campion ,Trebble Bar , Broad Bordered Bee Hawkmoth ,Black V Moth , Clouded Buff ,Birds Wing , Portland riband Wave , Feathered and Scarce Footman ,Coronet , Tree lichen beauty , Gypsy Moth and Rosy Underwing,Oak prossessionary  (to name a few)

 SilveSSilver Washed Fritillary

 

 

A right good doooo....

A poor start to the day as it rained till 11ish but as soon as it cleared I was out.66 BH , 3 Common  and 1 LBBGull on the cricket pitch. I was on the look out for the Goldfinch flock after Dishfish  had found some Siskin (good local find )  at Soil Hill yesterday, bit of a bogey bird for me in Northowram , I have had a few but I should have had more.??
   As I jumped over the fence a bird flushed into the large nettle patch..looked interesting but when I got to the patch 5  Goldfinch flushed from the same spot. Damm Golfinch( not Siskin) and only 5 of um.
   I headed down the fields to the area which is good for migrants and a male Whinchat and juv female Whitethroat made me feel a lot better. At this point the bird in the nettle patch got the better of me so I headed back for another look , after a couple of minutes a cracking Sedge Warbler showed its self.(very pleased I went back)..
  Did a whole circuit  of all the fields looking for the Goldfinch flock but only managed 2 more Goldfinch .
 At 6 .30 I headed out again the Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat were in the same spot , but little else of note. As I went to leave a flock of finches was picked up heading my way. At least 30 Siskin with 2 cracking males and about 10 Goldfinch mixed in with them...A good day and thanks to Dishfish

Whinchats

A slow week until today , 16 pied Wags on the Cricket pitch , 150 Goldfinch in the fields , House Martin and Sand Martin south and 2 cracking Whinchat on the fences at the bottom of the fields....1 1 willow warbler , 1 LBBgull and 25 BH Gulls in the horse fields ...

Old News

From around the first week of August , I had 2 juv Buzzards mewing in Northowram and 1 Barn owl was seen briefly near the wind farm at dusk.

France One

A stop over near Portsmouth was very productive with a flyover Great White Egret , 30 Little egret a Cetti's Warbler and a bonus Essex Skipper,( UK Butterfly species 53).A Bonxie on the flat sea and little else on the way over to France....

 Brown Hairstreak

 Glanville Fritillary

Swallowtail

On the move 2

First morning out for a while produced ,12 Goldfinch , 10 Linnet , 1 Sand Martin , 20 Swallow,  10 Pied Wags , 10 Willow Warbler , 2 Whitethroat and a Blackcap..............

On the Move...Lesser Whitethroat

The first real day with an autumn vis feel to it , saw 9 Pied Wagtail on the cricket pitch 2 of which were jet black juvs.A large flock of Blue and great tits moving along the tree line also contained 2 juv Bullfinch , 4 Greenfinch, 2 juv great spots and a family of 4 Blackbirds. One Chiffchaff and a superb Lesser Whitethroat made for a good start to the autumn migration....

Fly and Northowram

Quick look up at fly flats ,1 Cormorant , 10 mallard . 3 /4 juv Wheatear , 1 Barnacle Goose , 25 Swifts ,3 Kestrel 6 LBBGulls , 2 BHGulls , 1 male Merlin shot through 2 Short eared Owls hunting right by the roadside...At home a new Little Owl site was a nice find , 1 Forest Shieldbug , 3 Willow Warblers , 4 House Martin , 24 Swallows and good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell...

Hummingbird Hawkmoth etc...

First Hummingbird hawkmoth for a few years yesterday , it was feeding of red valerian about 4 doors down. 40 Small Tortoiseshell , 10 Ringlets , 20 Meadow Brown , 1 Red Admiral , 1 large White and my first 2 Gatekeepers of the year. Also today a very tatty Buzzard low over the cricket pitch , hope to see some young soon.??

Ringstone

90 lapwing, 7 Golden Plover , 3 Tufted Duck , 3 GCGrebe ,5 Common , 6 LBB ,  35 BH Gulls , 1 Kestrel, 1 Common Sand and a couple of Twite by the hide.


Northowram

1 Juv Willow  and 7 juv chiff , been a good year for Greenfinch and a Carrion Crow with a half eaten Rat in its beak at home this morning..

Slowly does it......................

Not much about this last week, plenty Swifts and LBBgulls on the move  .small flocks of BHGulls heading west. The first moving Willow Warblers this week and a family party of Great Spots have been kicking around .Bird of the week goes to a Woodcock which flew in front of the car last night about 10.15....

Ringstone..Med Gulls

Had to go to Manchester to see an old mate ,so decided to have a look at Ringstone on the way, as I was driving up there a flock of small gulls flew over the road , (im sure that was a Med gull or 2 )as I was driving I was not too sure ,so after about 10 mins of looking through the gull a cracking adult Med Gull in full summer plumage showed its self. 4 Cormorants , 3 Great Crested Grebe , 2 Common Sands , 30/40 lapwing and then another full summer plumaged Med gull landed next to the first one...my luck was well in....About 15 minutes later I picked another adult up flying across the fields not in full summer plumage but still a cracking bird..3 med Gulls in a day ..July....   carn't beat it for Med Gulls
...Yellow Legged next

Uk Butterflies

Managed to add a couple of British butterflies recently the very rare Black Hairstreak at the famous Glapthorn Cow Pasture and Wood White at Salcey Wood in Northamptonshrie .There are only a few residents to get over the next couple of years..

 Black Hairstreak

Wood White

Fly

Had a quick look at Fly today , greylags with young and the Barny, also lots of Canada Geese. A few Black Headed gulls drifted west.1 Dunlin , 10 + Common Sands , 3 Redshank , Curlew with chick , Golden Plover , 2 Oycks and looks like a good breeding season for Lapwing with at least 25 + around the res...
  

Ringstone

Had a look up there on Friday, 2 Common Sandpiper , 1 Little Ringed Plover ,6 Lapwing , 1 Buzzard , Mallard with six vey small chicks , Reed Bunt , Sand Martin , Swallow , Swift ,1 Curlew on the shoreline , 2 flying around and a flock of 10 flying north. 1 LBBGull and a Cormorant.

Malham Cove and Ghosts

Its been a long time since I have been to Malham Cove but popped up there on Thursday, Peregrine showing well , Redstarts , 1 male with 2 juvs and another pair flycatching , 1 Spotted Fly ,  Wheatear , Grey Wagtail and Dipper juvs and adults.
    Went over to Bradford last night to view a Ghost Moth ' Lek ' in one of the town centre parks, the council have left large areas of the park wild and so the grass can grow tall......over 1000 male  Ghost moths seen ...now that is a sight......amazing

Cricket Pitch

Been very busy on the Cricket pitch this week with hoards of Juv Starlings and plenty of House Sparrows collecting food and nesting material. Linnets , Greenfinch and Chaffinch have been busy as have a family of Pied Wagtails .Swifts and Swallows were both feeding low to the ground on Sat morning. Wont be long till the first BH Gulls are back and the odd Mipit . Queensbury pitch had plenty Skylarks and Meadow Pipits on Thursday evening.....

its been a good year locally ...so far

It started off with Tree Sparrows in the back garden then  a Jack Snipe at Fly not a rare bird but always good to find one locally. Then we had the amazing Whooper Swan day. Shortly followed by a male Ring Ouzel and the trip of Dotterel in Todmorden . Buzzards almost daily from the house and  not to mention record numbers of Cuckoo.
    This week I had 2 pairs of breeding Wheatear and amazingly I found 2 pairs of LRP with 7 young on the same piece of ground (upland site)..
 Ochreous Pug new to Calderdale at the crags and Larch Pug only the second site in Calderdale  , Devon Carpet the only record in Yorkshire for 3 years and record numbers of Oak Beauty. An Oak tree pug in the back garden trap was a real treat.............

Ramsden Clough area.

Few pairs of Curlew, Lapwing and plenty of Reed Buntings, 3 juv Stonechats ,loads of Orange Tip and Green veined White Butterflys .Then to my amazement Male and female Wheatear with 2 juv  on the 8th of June they were free flying and catching bugs, also  about 1/2 mile away another  more agitated male Wheatear ,indicating another nest close by.
   I also found an old Raven nest on top of an old house on the moor.....