River Ryburn and mid January

 A walk along the river Ryburn today produced 19 Mandarin Duck by far my biggest count in Calderdale in fact anywhere , the 12 males  were in perfect plumage and 7 female types . Dipper , Moorhen and Mallards made for a great walk, Cromwell was very busy with 23 Tufted Duck , 2 Pochard , 2 Scaup , 8 Goldeneye , 5 Teal .500 Black headed gulls( the odd one or two with full black hoods)  , 100 Common Gulls , 3 LBBGulls (1 intermedius) and 6 Herring Gulls...12 Tree Sparrows on Jay House Lane on the 14th and 9 Teal on the small pond..

 11 Whooper Swans at Lower Gorple in terrible conditions , 8 Crossbills , Redpoll , Siskin , Cole Tits and Goldcrests in Walshaw Plantation 15th . Had 3 Brambling (thanks Martyn and Carol) today which made 80 species in Calderdale so far this year...

2025 early January

  The Stonechat was still kicking about today which was a good way to start the year and Barn Owl at dusk.

 Hen Harrier , Peregrine Falcon and Crossbills today and some big flocks of Fieldfare at last , around Walshaw plantation.

Scaup at Cromwell with Tufted Duck , Goldeneye ,Goosander Grey Heron , Little grebe and Long-tailed Tits.

  Ringstone was busy with Adult Med Gull ,Kingfisher , Great-Black Backed  Gull high west  , Lapwing  245 + , Golden Plover 260 + and 8 skeins of Pink-footed geese west 1000 + birds involved, 3 Buzzards , Kestrel , , Bullfinch  , Goldfinch and  Fieldfare...5 days 60  species

9th Jan , had a quick look at Ogden but very little except a smart male Sparrowhawk , Goldcrest in the back garden and a Ring necked Parakeet at Shibden Park kept the year list ticking over.70 species in 9 days....its tough out there , every path frozen and one slip and its a broken ankle,,stay safe.....

Lower Gorple + Excellent garden tick

 A excellent couple of evenings at Lower Gorple, 5 Crossbills , Raven ,  Sparrowhawk , Kestrel , Buzzard , Barn Owl , Fieldfare, Redwing , Reed Bunting , 6 Goldfinch , 4 Common Gull , 6 Herring Gulls , 50 Mallard  and some excellent views of Hen harriers .......

Julia was shouting down the stairs... there is small smart bird in the garden..sat on top of the Hydrangea it  was a male Stonechat..its a great garden tick , goes well with Redstart and Whitethroat over the years in the same bush....

Yorkshire Sculpture Park ..

Great Egret , Shoveler , Gadwall , 

Great Egret

 Great Egret at  Harold Park today  catching fish and generally enjoying its surroundings....thanks to BS and NK for posting on the bloggs about this species...cheers

Walshaw Dean and Lower Gorple..RED Throated Diver

 Great to see 2 Peregrine Falcons together behind Walshaw Plantation today , spooked 5 Crossbills and a flock of Fieldfare , 1 Raven and a Ringtail Harrier also here. 

    The first Short eared Owl since the summer was a treat at Lower Gorple  , the adult male Hen Harrier put on a real show ,another 12 Crossbills over and a Barn Owll hunting close by. Another 2 ringtails and a Kestrel made for a great afternoon...

RED Throated  Diver in Hebden Bridge today....!!!!!!!!!!..

Seen  a good run of birds recently in Calderdale ..Slav Grebe , Red Throated Diver , Caspian Gulls , Crossbills , Short -eared Owl , The Tanager , Barn Owl and Little Egret (from the garden ) Scaup ,Common Scoter ,  Male Hen Harrier's and  Yellow -legged Gull's , 

Butterfly's of Malaysia

Jester

Malayan Jezabel

Tree Nymph

                                                           Striped Blue Crow

                                                               Abnormal Sergeant

Wizard

Common Duffer

Tailed Judy

Rajah Brooke's Birdwing

Rich Sailer

White Headed Batwing

Yellow Glassy Tiger

Himalayan Jester

 

Hawkmoth's on Fraser's Hill , Malaysia 2024

 When we set off I was hoping to see as many Hawkmoth especially a Deaths head species as possible , as I knew the other species would be hard to Id for a first timer in Malaysia. I sort of thought 30 in my head would be a great total (but unlikely). We ended up on 32 species......amazing

Greater Deaths head Hawkmoth

Mango Hawkmoth

Malaysia Beetles etc....

Cerulean Carpenter Bee

Southern Titiwansa Bent-Gecko

Giant Stag Beetle Odontolabis castelnaudi

Dragon Mantis Toxodera Hausri

Batocera parryi

EMPRESS CICADA(6 o'clock  cicada time)

                                                 Cyriopalus species
 

Blyth's Hawk Eagle

 Found on Fraser's Hill Malaysia , Blyth's Hawk Eagle............

Malaysian Moths

 The recent trip to Malaysia with Anthony Arak to see the moths of Fraser's Hill (with David Fisher , Stephen Hogg  and Khalid  Fadil  , 3 of the worlds expert's on Malaysian Moths) was truly mind blowing. There was at least  7/8 traps on every night and we wandered around seeing some of the most amazing moths on the planet . They were everywhere , Malaysian Moon Moths , Atlas Moths , Silk Moths , 30  + Hawkmoth Species , Hearsey's Owl Moth Brachmaea , Genus Sacada , Grambidae like you've never seen , Tiger moths sp  , Goat Moth sp  ,etc etc . 500 + species that we took photos of and could remember , but over 1100 species recorded by the group....There was  also the most varied selection of Stick Insects , Beetles , Snakes , Spiders , Birds all around the Hotel , it was 100% concentration needed to keep on top of it all....If you ever get chance to go...just go for it....

MCM Discovery Villa , Fraser's Hill ,Malaysia............

                   The Orange Drinker   Euthrix Laeta

                 Gastropacha leopoldi

Mustilizans dierli

                                                                Tridrepana fulvata (male and female)

Walshaw Dean and Lower Gorple .....

 A beautiful day and the first snow and heavy deep frost.

9 Crossbills in the plantation , 20 Goldfinch , 20 Siskin , 6 Redpoll . 6 Stonechats , 1 Mistle Thrush , 2 x Great Spot , Fieldfare and the odd Mistle Thrush . 

Lower Gorple had a juv Peregrine on show for most of the afternoon , which hassled the Harriers as they came into roost ,3 ringtails , it was bitterly cold as soon as the sun went down and a Merlin was hunting the top moor , Buzzard , Sparrowhawk and Kestrel . The overflow was full of Meadow Pipits but nothing else in with them...30 + Mallards , 60 Jackdaws over to roost , a distant calling Raven and Little Owl back in a regular spot on the way home .

 When I got back to the car after taking this photo , my boot laces were so frozen solid , I had to drive with them on till they defrosted and I could take them off.......LOL LOL...

NERF Annual Conference

 An excellent day at the Shay , the talks by Cat Barlow , Sonja Ludwig , Mark Harrison and Jack Ashton Booth were very very good and the rest were very informative ..I must remember to go to this next year...well done SD and TW

Malaysian Moths

 

Malasian Moths

Silk Moth sp - Circula trifenestrata

 

 Apsarasa radians

Owl Moth Brahmaea  hearsyi

                                                      Malaysian Moon Moth

Malaysia Moths ..

Erebus ephesperis

Radhica elisabethae

 

Plutodes flavescens

Alompra rockei

Xyleutes strix

                                                 Orange Drinker 

                                                           Tarsolepis remicauda