Last of the summer wine Country

A party of 20 Crossbills was a great site and sound as were 3 differnt Cuckoos.A male whinchat was my first of the year,plenty of singing Redpolls and a few Charms of goldfinch(9+7).Plenty of drumming Snipe and alarming Curlews in and around the moors edge.I was suprised to see so many lapwing chicks with at least 40 seen of varying sizes from 4/5 different large fields continually wary of the ever present carrion Crows.A flock of 10 Curlew foraging in a field must have been failed breeders.Wheatear are thin on the ground now with one late female the only one seen.

North Yorkshire

Golden Plover clutch Its nice when you can away and a few days in North Yorkshire produced 20+ Tree Pipit 7 Cuckoo 1 Male redstart 2 Willow tit 3 spotted fly 1 male goshawk 1 pair Merlin 17 Whitethroat 1 lesser whitethroat 9 Garden warbler 6 Blackcap Lapwibg,Curlew,Golden Plove,Siskin,lesser redpoll and Crossbills were common.

Swift mega move and a few breeders

Got my first young starlings ,magpies, and green Woodpeckers this morning along with Great spots feeing young at the nest site,2 Chiffs ,3 Blackcaps and 4 willow warblers in good song . Vis 4.00 - 5 ,30 Swift 491 nn/e LBBGull 2 nn/e House martin 9 north Swallow 5 north

Sat Vis mig

1 Curlew west 3 Lapwing south 2 Sand Martin north 2 House Martin north 35 Swift north 22 Swallow north 1 Buzzard south 2 alba wags north 1 Grey wag north 1 Song Thrush north 25 LBBGulls various directions female Sparrowhawk and Kestrel out hunting , linnets in the garden eating dandilions and the House Sparrows copulation for second brood

Wheatear and Grasshopper warbler Bonanza

well what a year for wheatears,today I counted 17 in one field and all of them look like 'greenlands' to me .So far this spring I have had over 60 individulas which is better than the last 5 years put together and also 6 Grasshopper warblersso far.The other species doing well are short eared owl with 13 sightins to press.Also today a lesser whitethroat at the crem with 2 Buzzards low overhead.Ravens with 3 young and Lesser repolls displaying at an upland site.Also had 2 pairs of stonechats this week which have become pretty scarce.

Sunday

Not a bad morning to be out ,but the first hour produced nothing of note,Thena pair of lapwing calling overhead was a nice suprise,2 Willow warblers,1 Blackcap ,2 Chiffchaffs and the best birds of the day 2 singing Whitethroat. Evening visit to an upland site produced 1 Ringed Plover,1 Common Sandpiper,2 SE Owl and a Raven.

Wheatear at last

A cracking male wheatear today on local walk 1st this year here and Willow warblers singing as well. Hudderfield area last few days 6 + SE Owls 4 male Ring Ouzel 1 osprey 1 female redstart 1 Cuckoo Lapwings with young calderdale area today at least 7 sightings of SEOwl indicating at least 3 pairs,Male Merlin food pass,20 + Wheatear,lots of displaying Snipe Golden Plover and Curlew in good numbers