27th Northowram fields

Along the tall hedge today, 8 Blackbird , 11 Chaffinch ,4 Golfinch,2 Dunnock , 3 Blue and 2 Great Tits.20 Rooks and 107 Jackdaws feeing in the fields.1 Herring gull over s/w followed by 64 BH Gulls.Now these Reed Buntings are starting to annoy me, I just car'nt pin um down.there are now 5 and 4 are deffo reeds the other one I just carnt get on to confirm it as a reed..They are very flighty will have to try again tomorrow.........................

25 Jan

3 Redwing and a Mistle Thrush in the first tree in the field was a good start followed by 6 Stock Dove, 15 Goldfinch,2 Dunnock and 5 Reed Bunting (a record count),The horse field held 30 Common and 26 BH Gulls and 3 LBBgulls flew west. Shibden held 11 Moorhen,4 Coot,2 Mute Swan 4 Canada Goose and a Great Spot.

22nd Jan

First time out this week due to fog over the weekend and rain, 4 reed Buntings still in the field first time Ive all four for a while,2 LBBGulls west and 202 Jackdaws went over to roost.

Magical Merlin and Half way

Well its been a bit of a slog(wind and rain ) so far but I should not complain as the birding has been pretty good. Today I picked up a raptor very high in the sky it was a falcon, it stooped (perry ??)very fast (too small)gulls and thrushes every where.I lost it somewhere down near old brods as it stooped behind the trees. Defo falcon but not enough to id it,kept watching and before long it took to the air again heading west a female Merlin beautiful..with Buzzards diplaying ,2 Mute Swans , 4 Reed Bunts , 3 Nuthatch and 1000 + Pink Footed Geese its turning out to be a bit of a good start. now will I make 61 species on foot in January,,,,its still maybe..

Buzzards

2 Buzzards displays to the n/e on Saturday, with one over the house later in the day.Canada Goose and LTTit make it to 53 for the foot it.........................

Brighter day

Managed the last hour before dark an influx of Blackbirds at least 10 along the hawthorn hedge.28 lapwing west and then 11 Pinks drifted high west,35 Redwing north.1 bunting species gave me the run around and I was unable to say it was a definate reed... ''' .??

More wind and rain

The two worst things for a birder are strong wind and heavy rain,,we have been blessed with lots of both so far this year..A walk up to shelf moor looking for Snipe was the plan as I was sat in the office looking at bright blue skies. First step out of the house and the rain started by the time I got to shelf moor it was tipping it down again a full circle of the Snipe field nothing...the second time round I flushed 48.1 Snipe ,49..1 mipit and a Reed bunt...thank goodness, I was soaked to the skin, a walk back down the hill via a couple of ponds produced a few Carrion Crows and 4 Magpies, grim was all I could think.. Relentless rain and wind stopped me identifying two finches that flew overhead.. As I approached the houses of Northowram I did a small detour through a small wood and fluked a 50...Goldcrest...Its been a real struggle so far but to reach 50 on foot is a good start.... On a brighter note a Lesser Pecker called once from a tall Sycamore on Stoney lane,just managed to see it as it flew off towards Crow nest Park.......

Pinks on the Move

January the 5th optimum Pink footed goose time and so it proved with 4 skiens moving west totalling 785,44 th species for the year with 45,Great spotted woodpecker.46 House Sparrow and 47 Lapwing..4 reed buntings and a singing Song Thrush made for a good day....

Hard going.........................

Well its been pretty grim for birding so far this year, the wind and rain don't seem to want to let up and another local walk today produced 1 Song Thrush new for the year, 2 Reed Bunts,70 Redwing north and 200+ Jackdaws.. which makes 43 species within 2 miles walking distance of my house..The target is 61 which may be just doable if we get some half decent weather...????

2nd Jan walk to work..

A walk to town today through Shibden valley and back produced, 36.Sparrowhak(male),37.Mistle Thrush,38,Grey heron,39 Wren, 40 Dipper ,41 Nuthatch and 42 8 Linnet ,not bad but still no LTTit,Great spot,Song Thrush or House Sparrow. 61 will be hard

New years Day

Bloody awful day with wind and rain lashing it down after the first couple of hours. 1.Jackdaw 2 Carrion crown ,3 Rook ,4 Magpie ,5 Jay ,6 Starling ,7 Woodpigeon ,8 Collared Dove, 9 Stock dove , 10 Feral Pigeon , 11 greenfinch ,12 Bullfinch ,13 Chaffinch , 14 Goldfinch , 15 Dunnock , 16 Robin , 17 Great Tit ,18 Blue tit ,19 Cole tit ,20 Kestrel ,21 Common Gull , 22 Herring Gull ,23 LBBGull ,24 BH Gull , 25 Mallard , 26 Coot ,27 Moorhen ,28 Mute Swan ,29 Reed Bunting (4) , 30 Redwing ,31 Fieldfare , 32,Pied Wagtail ,33 grey Wagtail,34 Green Woodpecker ,35 Blackbird.......4 reed Buntings the best for today with a Adult winter male,2 first winter males and a first winter female.......