Fly

Had a quick look at Fly today , greylags with young and the Barny, also lots of Canada Geese. A few Black Headed gulls drifted west.1 Dunlin , 10 + Common Sands , 3 Redshank , Curlew with chick , Golden Plover , 2 Oycks and looks like a good breeding season for Lapwing with at least 25 + around the res...
  

Ringstone

Had a look up there on Friday, 2 Common Sandpiper , 1 Little Ringed Plover ,6 Lapwing , 1 Buzzard , Mallard with six vey small chicks , Reed Bunt , Sand Martin , Swallow , Swift ,1 Curlew on the shoreline , 2 flying around and a flock of 10 flying north. 1 LBBGull and a Cormorant.

Malham Cove and Ghosts

Its been a long time since I have been to Malham Cove but popped up there on Thursday, Peregrine showing well , Redstarts , 1 male with 2 juvs and another pair flycatching , 1 Spotted Fly ,  Wheatear , Grey Wagtail and Dipper juvs and adults.
    Went over to Bradford last night to view a Ghost Moth ' Lek ' in one of the town centre parks, the council have left large areas of the park wild and so the grass can grow tall......over 1000 male  Ghost moths seen ...now that is a sight......amazing

Cricket Pitch

Been very busy on the Cricket pitch this week with hoards of Juv Starlings and plenty of House Sparrows collecting food and nesting material. Linnets , Greenfinch and Chaffinch have been busy as have a family of Pied Wagtails .Swifts and Swallows were both feeding low to the ground on Sat morning. Wont be long till the first BH Gulls are back and the odd Mipit . Queensbury pitch had plenty Skylarks and Meadow Pipits on Thursday evening.....

its been a good year locally ...so far

It started off with Tree Sparrows in the back garden then  a Jack Snipe at Fly not a rare bird but always good to find one locally. Then we had the amazing Whooper Swan day. Shortly followed by a male Ring Ouzel and the trip of Dotterel in Todmorden . Buzzards almost daily from the house and  not to mention record numbers of Cuckoo.
    This week I had 2 pairs of breeding Wheatear and amazingly I found 2 pairs of LRP with 7 young on the same piece of ground (upland site)..
 Ochreous Pug new to Calderdale at the crags and Larch Pug only the second site in Calderdale  , Devon Carpet the only record in Yorkshire for 3 years and record numbers of Oak Beauty. An Oak tree pug in the back garden trap was a real treat.............

Ramsden Clough area.

Few pairs of Curlew, Lapwing and plenty of Reed Buntings, 3 juv Stonechats ,loads of Orange Tip and Green veined White Butterflys .Then to my amazement Male and female Wheatear with 2 juv  on the 8th of June they were free flying and catching bugs, also  about 1/2 mile away another  more agitated male Wheatear ,indicating another nest close by.
   I also found an old Raven nest on top of an old house on the moor.....

Ringstone ...2

45 Lapwing , 1 Common Sandpiper , 1 Little Ringed Plover , 3 Oystercatcher ,2 Grey Heron ,4 Great Crested Grebe , 2 Sand Martin , 5 Swift , 10 Swallow and a couple of reed Bunts. The Sand Martin colony near Greetland stone quarry seems to be in full swing with 10 birds seen collecting mud from a field nearby.

Ringstone

A quick look at Ringstone today produced 3 Great Crested grebes 2 doing full courtship display, 35 Lapwing , Willow Warbler , 2 Oystercatcher , Reed bunting , Grey Partridge , 1 Sand martin , 7 Swift , 10 Swallows , 13 LBBgulls  and plenty Mipits.

Gales hit for the start to June....

Plenty Swifts on the move the last few days and Buzzards, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk have been seen out hunting despite the gales. Plenty of Nuthatch at Hardcastle Craggs but no Wood Warbler , Pied Flys or Redstarts. Found a small but healthy population of Lapwing the on Sat morning with at least 15 pairs with 5 Juvs seen. Good news these days also a small flock of Golden plover foraging nearby.
 Butterflies seen the first 2 days of June = 0 very depressing