Cromwell Bottom....Wheatear and Whimbrel

Singing males only(warblers

Blackcap    17
Chiffchaff  10
Willow Warbler  12
Garden Warbler   1
Whitethroat         1
Wren                15
Song Thrush    2
Kingfisher       2 sightings
Bullfinch        pair
Green Woodpecker calling
Grey Wagtail   2 near the weir

A fine male Wheatear on the cricket pitch and a calling Whimbrel over the house....good doo

House Martin

2 House Martins north west over the house today with 6/7 Swallows the same way. Buzzards , Sparrowhawk , and a Peregrine down in the valley. 3 Canada Goose ,Linnets , Grey Wagtail , Stock Dove and Grey Heron....

Raggalds Flood

Been keeping an eye on the bit of water known as Raggals flood of late...last week or so has produced
Ringed Plover x 2
Little Ringed Plover x 1
Redshank x 2
Oystercatcher x 1
Lapwing x 5
In 2013 also had Dunlin , Snipe ,Curlew , and Golden Plover one more species of wader to make double figures (Common Sand maybe) on a muddy puddle in Queensbury....Amazingly one day there were 2 Shelduck on it..???

Wheatear

One female Wheatear on the cricket pitches this morning along with 4 Pied Wagtail , 2 Goldfinch , 4 Greenfinch,1 Blackbird and 20 Starling ..all collecting nesting material...

Swallows return

First dates seen from the house in Northowram in the last few years....
2011......1st April
2012.....21st April
2013....10th April
2014....12th April
2015....13th April
2016......4th April
2017.....21st April

Cumbria 15th - 21st April

Lots of walking in the hills for a week , 2 Singing Ring Ouzel was great to hear with at least 15 pairs of Wheatear in and around. On the coast 100 Pale bellied Brents , 5 Greenshank , 2 Green Sandpipers , 20 Ringed Plover ,Blackcaps , Willows and Chiffs  Swallows , House martins and Sand martins in good numbers ,

Cromwell Bottom

A walk round mid afternoon produced --
8 Singing Willow Warblers
8 Singing  Chiffchaff
7 Singing  Blackcap
11 Singing Wren
4  Singing  Goldfinch

1 Green veined White
1 male Orange Tip
1 Speckled Wood

Sunday 2nd April

Started well with 2 Sand Martins north low over the fields.soon followed by 2 Cormorants, 2 grey heron , 2 Greylags and 3 Canadas . 1 singing Skylark , upto 5 Buzzards about  and a cracking young female   Peregrine . The local Starlings have been collecting all the grass  cuttings on the cricket pitch to line there nests and the local Greenfinch have been is display mode all week....

March Swallow

Never had a March Swallow before so i was very glad to see 2 on the 29th March this year near Ravenglass , also in the area 10 Greenshanks , 2 Sand Martin , plenty Chiffchaffs , 10 Little Egrets , Pink footed Geese (40 north) , Peregrine and 2 Orange Underwing.

First Chiffchaff

Had my first Northowram Chiffchaff of the year today singing in bright sunshine from the top of a Willow tree.12 Common Gulls making a right racket in the fields . 3 Canada Geese and 4 Mallards have turned up in the flooded fields and at least 4 singing male Greenfinch have been displaying for the last few days. 2 Grey wags and 2 Pied Wags on the cricket pitch yesterday were not there today.Buzzards have been very vocal all week.

Ogden

2  different singing grey wagtails , Kingfisher , Dipper , 2 Tufted Duck , 11 Goosander ,Red Grouse , Curlew and lapwing....Plenty herring Gulls heading west...

Winter turns to Spring

A quick visit to the Duddon Estuary area in Cumbria  produced my first Wheatear ,  2 singing Chiffchaff  , 2 Green Sandpiper , 135 Pale bellied Brent Geese , 34 Twite , 14 Whooper Swans , 400 Pink footed geese , 1 Tundra Bean Goose , 2 Stonechat  , Buzzards , Raven and Peregrine.
  57 Balck tailed Godwit , 10 Shovler and 4 Gadwall at Hellifield Flash ,

Quiet

This morning looked good for a Chiffchaff at least but after slogging round all the local fields and bits of wood in Northowram I had little to show for it. 2 Skylarks , 1 Herring Gull , 1 LBB Gull , 8 Common Gulls , 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker , 2 Buzzards , 1 Kestrel , 3 Song thrush , 1 green Woodpecker , 5 Linnets , and a few Goldfinch/////

Get your Gulls on..!!!!

If you like Gulls then Rufforth tip near York is a treat. It can be very frustrating with 1000's of gulls all over the place ,  but they only settle down every now and then because the area is next to an airfield , a very busy road and gun shots going off all the time.
  But when they do settle down to loaf and preen a hole host of ages and species can be observed closely.In six hours Me and Nick D have found
Glaucous Gull x 3 first winters
Iceland Gull x 1 3rd winter /adult and a first winter
Caspian Gull 4 x 3rd Winter

 Yellow Legged Gull 1 x 3rd winter

Get your Gulls on.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First migrants

3 Sand Martins north on Tuesday 7th was early , also north 2 Curlew , 2 Skylarks and 5 herring Gulls.
The local Buzzards were active yesterday with a new male Buzzards turning up which caused a lot of chaos for a while , and then at 8.32 the local male and female were seen copulating ,great news
 Also around the village today lost of singing going on 3 Song Thrush , 2 Mistle Thrush , 10 Blackbirds , Goldcrest , Greenfinch , House Sparrow , Dunnock  and the garden Robin sang most of the day.............

Eastern Black Redstart and Gulls galore

What a beauty the Eastern Black Redstart is , Rock Pipit , Fulmar ,Stonechat  and Meadow Pipits.Then off to Rufforth to see some Gulls , 2 Ist Winer and 1 Juv 1st winter Glaucose Gull , 1 3rd Winter Caspian Gull and plenty Herrings , BH , Commons , LBBGulls and GBBGulls

Nest Boxes

Put some nest boxes (thanks dave ) up this week , to try and get some breeding Tree Sparrows over the next couple of years,A  Raven headed N/w , a Grey Wag and 2 Skylarks north..

Snow Bunting Swales Moor

                                                      Barny 1 and  2

                                                  Distant Whoopers on Mixi.....

Little Egrets

  On friday 17th Feb , I had 2 little Egrets in flooded fields between Silsden and Kegly....not a bad local record.
  Today the 23rd there were my first 3 Skylarks of the spring  in the local fields , along with displaying Stock Doves and 2 singing Mistle Thrush..100's of Gulls moving west 20 Herrings , 250 BH Gulls and 50 Commons....

Greenfinch

Had a flock of 14 Greenfinch this week which is the most I have seen for a long time. 111 Pinks today heading west , which takes it to 808 from Northowram so far this year. Plenty Herring Gulls west , and a few flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares north....A Chiff chaff type was seen very briefly disapperaing  into next doors holly bush , it was not relocated.....(yet)......Tawny owls were very vocal the last few nights..

Jackdaws...................

324 Jackdaws  went over Northowram today between  4.45 and 5.00 ( one had a white rump like a Wheatear ) to Roost.  . Two Tawny owls were very vocal in the woods tonight and a distant calling Green Woodpecker went to roost.Pink Footed geese on the move n/w as well on Sunday morning

Buzzards

 The local Buzzards have been very busy this week.. When the sun has been out 2 / 3 have been up displaying and re - claiming there territory . At 7,30 on Friday morning I could here them calling from the local wood  and by 8.00 there were 2 Buzzards in full display , talon grappling , aerial stooping and close level flights through the upper branches of the local wood.
Sparrowhawks have been up soaring but no displays have been seen yet. 7 Stock Doves and plenty of thrushes still about..

Twitching Dusky Thrush...

Well its a very long time since i twitched owt,,, But went to have a look for the Dusky Thrush in Beeley today , when we got there a few birders said it had not been seen since Sunday morning so we had a good look through the Redwings ,Blackbirds and Song Thrush s  and after  10 mins  Nick D (with new mega scope) picked it up feeding in the open fields.Watched it for 20 mins feeding and scurrying on the ground,Then id disappeared and was not seen again......A very smart Thrush..well worth having a look if you get the time.....

Now i always say Im not a twitcher but I have seen over the years ,Bee -eater , Snowy Egret , King Eider, Eastern and Western  sub -alpine Warbler , Redhead , Lesser Scaup ,  Black -faced Bunting ,Dark eyed Junco , White throated Sparrow, Laughing Gull , Black winged Pratincole , Black Duck ,Wilsons Storm Petrel , American Robin , Black throated Thrush , Citrine Wagtail , Bairds Sandpiper , Least Sandpiper , Great Spotted Cuckoo (spurn) Little Bunting ,Green Heron and many more....LOL

Last few days

3 Buzzards enjoying the sun today  , 2 Sparrowhawks and a KIestrel. Plenty Greenfinch  and  Goldfinch around and 14 Brambling flew north on Friday. Mistle Thrush have been singing down the valley and Redwing and Fieldfares have been feeding in the fields. The Jackdaw over the house going to roost has been about  218 and a flock of 800+ Starlings also going to roost heading for Brighouse mid week. Loads of small gulls on the move this week all west with 1 GBBgull , 6 LBBgull and a few Herrings. A small flock of 5 duck sp went past and I was unable to get a decent id ...I know they wernt Mallard or Teal ,,,,,,

Cumbria

6 Little Egrets seen from the car stuck at  traffic lights near Millom South Cumbria....!!!!!
Also Jack Snipe , Green Sandpiper , Greenhank  , 950 Pink footed geese in 6 skiens high N/W .

Shelf

Nuthatch , GS Woodpecker , Jay ,Cole tit , Grey Wagtail , Buzzards , Kestrel , Fieldfare , Redwing , Mistle Thrush

Brighouse is the place to be...............

60 Waxwings at lane head ,50 Brambling, 2 grey Wagtail  at Wellhome Park , 100 Golden Plover ,300 Lapwing and 500 Starlings at Balif Bridge....

A few birds to start the year......

Started with a female Sparrowhawk hunting House Sparrows in and around the Cricket pitch and a few Common and Black heads kicking about . 60 Waxwings and 50 + Redwing , House Sparrows an Blue / Long tailed  tits  at lane Head  Brighouse . On to Jay house lane where there were 5 Teal and 20+ Mallard but no green Sand,..No Tree Sparrows around but it was very windy, Redwings seemed to be in every bush today .
   300 Lapwing , 47 Golden Plover and 500 Starlings at the top of Bailif Bridge .A flock of 18 Linnets and 1 Buzzard in the field at home . Mute Swan , Coot and Moorhen at Shibden and a Bullfinch and Siskin in Cunnery Wood.. 2 Goldeneye and 16 Cormorant at EGP. A cracking male Widgeon at Ringstone with 60 Canands and 10 Snipe also. 25 Reed Bunting at Norland Moor and a Little Owl.

 

X - mas hols

                                                     Inglebrough 01.01.17...very cold on top -----

                                              Pen y Gent 27.12.16.....

                                                       Norland Moor 31.12.16

More Pinks , Waxwings and a Redwing

With a good move of Pinks over Calderdale yesterday I added another 315 +131 to  the year total. Which now stands at 2687 and a massive 11100(aprox) since 2003..not bad for the Pennines also with a few Whoopers this year which makes a  total of 402 another interesting total for an inland location.

   With Waxwings being reported widely I had a look down at Lane head Brighouse and 8 soon came into view. I left and returned a bit later and was struck by a dark Redwing which immediately made me think it was one of the dark Islandic types.I got good views and was pretty sure it was one. Unfortunately I did not get the under tail coverts in enough detail , so i will have to go back and have another look tomorrow . 13 Waxwings over the House and 18 Lapwings made for a good couple of days.