Gulls and Mute Swans

Plenty of gulls about today wit 5 Argenteus and 1 Argentatus in the field with 2 LBBGulls ,200 + BH and Commons,2 Kestrels,1 Great spot over and 2 Mute Swan still on Shibdenmpark boating lake,,,

Foot it

my plan this year is to see 61 species in January within two miles of my back doorstep. This means Shibden park lake and sunny bunsers are my only bits of water,its gonna be tough.....

Foot it...... warm up

Had a tromp round this morning... 1.Carrion crow 2.Jackdaw 3.Blackbird 4.Common Gull 5 Black headed gull 6 herring Gull 7.Stock dove 8.Magpie 9.Rook 10.Starling 11.Reed Bunting x 3 12.House Sparrow 13.Redwing 14.Fieldfare 15.Mistle Thrush 16.Greenfinch 17.Robin 18.Collared Dove 19.Great Tit 20.Feral Pigeon 21.Woodpigeon 22.Blue Tit 23.Dunnock. day2 24.Song thrush 25.Sparrowhawk 26.Kestrel 27.Chaffinch 28.Wren

Ivory Dip

Missed the Ivory Gull at P/haven but the Humber Estuary was at its best all the same, Little egret 2 , Male Hen harrier 1 , Merlin 2/3 , Marsh harrier 1 , teal 20 , Widgeon 1 , Short eared Owl 1 , Peregrine 2 , Buzzard,Kestrel,Sprwk Knot 3000 , Dunlin 500 , Golden Plover 700 , Grey Plover 30 , Bar tailed Godwit 100 + (one in summer plumage) Oyck's ,Redshank,Curlew,Lapwing 100's Brent Geese 6

Troublesome Gulls

Hard going to find birds today, a few Jackdaws and Carrion Crows on the cricket pitch,A song thrush flushed from long grass had me going for a split second and a Pied Wag was the highlight from the mill car park.4 Goldfinch,9 Stock and 1 Collard Dove from Chelsea Valley .Then a load of Gulls in the bottom field,40 Common and 30 or so Black heads nothing else ,then 2 adult Herring Gulls popped into view,small and clean cut made me think Argenteus, then one more a lot bigger and paler grey made me think of YL /Aregentatus type , then a fourth in second winter plumage with very long neck with grey streaks down the sides, and black beady eye. Interesting,,, but without a better view I was never going to put it to species. I crawled along the wall as not to flush um for about 150 yards, popped up all the gulls still present, except the two interesting ones could not find um anywhere........One Mistle thrush was no consolation on the way back...

Presents from Queensbury

37 Lapwing in the field today must have dropped in from Queensbury and then 3 Reed Bunting(which is a real rarity here)which must be the ones Bri found at Shelf moor..Loads of gulls ,Starlings and Jackdaws about but nothing of note....

Winter Moths .......

 

A fantastic week for Winter |Moths with at least 10000 in the local wood on sat,sun and Monday night,on Tuesday the numbers had dropped to about 5000 .....The flightless females which have been very difficult to find in recent years were also abundant. The bottom pics is a female Mottled Umber the others all Winter Moths.

More vis

Woodpigeon          136979
Pink Footed Goose    6991
Whooper Swan            148
Fieldfare                   13290
Redwing                   22460
Meadow Pipit             5040
Totals since 2005

Visible Migration

10 years ago Brian Sumner and Peter Smith told me all about the wonders of Vis - Mig in the |Pennines and since then it has become a bit of an obsession  ,  David barker and the Ox crew never cease to amaze me with what they record at there site (not too far away) , it has had great rewards over the years but I've never had a really  BIG DAY until today......
   I got up at 6.30 the ground frozen underfoot and clear skies in every direction with stars still glinting. The local Jackdaw roost broke at 6.45 with about 300 noisily flying overhead .At 7.10 the first Woodpigeons were seen counting went something like this 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,20,30 ,40,50,100,200,300,500 ,1000 ,1100,1200,1500,first flock... amazing then it just went belistic with flocks in every direction ,close ...another 1000, distant 500 x 3 long streams all across the sky. Starlings in small squadrons heading west and 10 Pinks the same way/By now I was struggling with the sheer numbers of birds, A ' chew'  bunting was herd but a black sillouette was unidentifiable to species. Woodpigeons were not letting up at all and there were massive flocks high in the sky and a continuose  stream heading sswest between Emily Moor and Holme Moss.I had a quick count up and had 20,000 + and it was getting  out of control.I had to give up on the distant flocks and just consentrate on the ones close enough to count.
   Large Gulls started to move west with LBBGulls and Herring gulls and the odd GBB,Common Gulls as well made a big move, Then another chew and a rattle then a good visual of the bird less than 10 feet away and about only  8 foot above the ground.Lap Bunt..no let up in the Woodpigs with numbers now reaching 40,000 and beyond. The final total at  10.45 was 48,841 with a small move of 1427 back NEast. A Raven over west was another rare sighting here .

GANNET

Well what can I say...stuck at work getting texts of big moves of Redwings etc and then a 15 Gannets at gorple I nearly choked..........Got home full kit on wellies... hat... coat..Binns  ...flushed a couple of mipits scanning all the time ,Starlings on the move Redwings heading north west and then a bloody cormorant  ,,how come I get a bloomin cormorant when KM gets 15 gannets I was thinking.....better
have a look at it to see if its an adult or what ever...Bloody Hell its a Juvenile Gannet about 30 foot above the tree line. As it banked sideways a black silloette of long pointed wings and head were surreal against the penine backdrop....................well chuffed..

Tuesday more Whinchats

Another good day with a Buzzard north over the house the first bird to be seen,then a Wheatear in the field and Swallows heading south, Mipits calling overhead and a Grey wag south.2 Whinchats on the fence together along with 8 Mipits. Cormorant west with a few gulls and a distant large  Goose sp was unidentifiable... 

Monday ...............monday

heavy work load over the weekend so it was nice to be out today, another whinchat ,plenty Swallows heading south ,1 Snipe south and Mips south all day............Small copper, Large and Small Whites and Speckled woods still kicking around when the sun came out..

Went up to see if any lapwings were present at shelf moor,,not a thing except a few corvids,then two Whinchat poped up on the wall up by the horse paddock(not seen one in 10 years in Northowram then 4 in the last week..??)as soon as I got on um a female Sparrowhawk went for them ,missed and landed on the wall,it then jumped into the field and started hopping around looking through the vegetation.not see them do that before...needless to say didn't see the Whinchats again...........

What a week.....

2 Spotted Flycatceher ,Chiffs and willow warblers ,the Whinchat the other day was a first for me here and today a GREEN SANDPIPER flushed from just below the cows water trough was another first for Northowram,,now can I make the hat trick???,,,,4 swallows,1 mipit and a few Stock Doves was a poor supporting cast..

Swallows On the Move

Plenty of Swallows moving  due south today and yesterday at least 300 + 5 Sand martin, Skylark,2 Spotted fly, 1 juv Whinchat and 40 + Mipits..

Moved down from Queensbury(getting out of the wind)

33 Canada geese have moved in ( must have come from ragalds flood)0ne Chiff -  chaff and Goldcrest  gave a quick burst of song from the tall hedge,a few Swallows low... heading south and a flock of 55 Goldfinch were new in ( again probably from queensbury).....a couple of LBBgulls were all I could muster in the wind........................

Dorset Butterflies

A week in Dorset produced----

Lulworth skipper....................6
Speckled Wood......................common
Marbled White ......................common
Chalkhill Blue........................29
Common Blue........................abundant
Holly Blue.............................4
Adonis Blue...........................3
Silver Studded Blue...............19
Red Admiral...........................abundant
Painted lady............................9
Peacock..................................abundant
Small Tortoiseshell................abundant
Large White...........................abundant
Small White...........................abundant
Meadow Brown.....................abundant
Gatekeeper.............................common
Wall Brown...........................common
Small Heath...........................28
Brimstone..............................14
Clouded Yellow....................6
Grayling................................34
Small Copper........................3
Comma.................................5
Ringlet..................................1(very tatty end of season)
Silver washed Fritillary........1(very tatty end of season)
Dark Green Fritillary............1
Green Veined White.............22
Fritillary sp............................4

Little Owl Pellet

Found a Little owl pellet the other day it contained at least 100 Aphodius depressus (Kugelann) specimens (a common Dung beetle).On the look out for more if any one chances across any..........

Ogden and the Return of Raggals Flood

Ogden,,nice to see a Great crested Grebe on the water first one for a while,,,LBBGulls,BH Gulls a plenty and 1 Common Gull .A mixed flock of  5 Great tit, 4 Blue tit,4 Willow Warbler and 2 Cole tit was the highlight of a quiet walk through the woods....20 + Swallows feeding low over the fields.
The flood has returned with a party of Pied wags ......................

Fermyn Wood, Northampton

Photo from Purple Empire blog/......................10  Small Skipper
25  Ringlet
20  Purple Hai streak
2    Peacock
12 Large Skipper
4  White Admiral
3 Comma
6 Large White
5 Small White
2 Green Veined White
4 Small Tortoiseshell
15 sightings of PURPLE EMPEROR flitting around the tops of Oak then disappearing into sallows to lay there eggs. Species number 44 for UK.....Marsh Tit, Red Kite(10+) and a good selection of common Warblers....

Torch and Net at Moorends

Round and about

Raggalds Mud and leeshaw

Raggalls Mud ,,,,8 lapwing today along with 2 adult and 2 juv Pied wags , 2 Blackbird , 2 Linnets and 1 Skylark.
   Leeshaw..7 Oyks ,.Redshank, Lapwing(few Juvs) , Curlew (1 Juv ) ,Snipe ,LRP ,Golden Plover , first BHGull juv , Common sandpiper , Cormorants and plenty LBBGulls..........

Round and About today

 Sparrowhawk on garage roof

 Wall Brown Thornton greyhound track??

 Little owl at  Home

Skylark

Copper Underwing Larvae

Found this little beauty today near Thorne Moor , not seen one before....This stage is rarely recorded in Yorkshire
.Thanks Jim for the photo..

Common Blue and Pied wagtail

Bradford Quail

Flushed a Quail this morning first thing, A UK lifer for me.. all though I have seen many abroad...At first I was thinking what the hell is that funny game bird type..................black throat...? and  almost chequered back with plain wings,,,Quail ..get in... a beauty...of course it could be an escape but seems bang on time,........,pity it didn't call.........................

Never had any time for this old Yorkshire carry on......................

Brown Argus

Brown Argus at Thorne Moors, tricks one with white spots but Brown Argus species 43 for Britain..gonna try and make 50 this being my 50th year..

Palmate Newt

Superb adult male palmate newt at CB this morning.

Palmate showing the 3 diagnostic features,1 no spots on throat,2 webbed back feet,3  long point at end of tail.......

Raggalds flood

Early morning visit today produced Curlew, Oystercatcher , Redshank , 3/4 Lapwing , 2 pied Wags , 2 blackbird ,2 Woodpigeon , 6 Swallow and 2 Starling...

LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER

Well its my favourite British bird and today I watched the male feeding a young male and female at the nest site,less than 2 miles from my house,,same place as 4 years ago..the 2 young were hunger calling continuously. A fantastic summers day..

Adder

Found this today in south Yorkshire,5 feet from a busy dog walkers path and 100 yards from a housing estate.........

Sunny Sunday

A steady trickle of LBBGulls north all day, along with a resident flock of 12 Swifts,2 House martin and 6 swallows .54 Woodpigeon foraged in the field and a flock of 8 Linnets sat on the fence, this  was great to see as they have been thin on the ground this year,,The best of the day  was a Garden Warbler singing from a hawthorn in the corner of the field, this may be my first Northowram record I will have to check..

Grizzled Skipper...down sarff

Grizzled Skipper is my 42nd British butterfly...only 17 to go....................So good to see the sun and butterflys on the wing,, Brimstone , Common Blue , Small heath , Orange Tip , Speckled wood ,Small white and silver Y.At least 20 Red Kites and the same amount of Common Buzzards

Friday ...

Lapwing , Canada Goose  from Raggalds flood along with Oystercatcher,, Young Smooth newt above

More Purple Patch

Nearly trod on this ,not seen one during the day since one at Spurn a long ,long time ago. .very  very nice  indeeeeeeeeed.

Another two from the last week...............