Jay House Lane

Its looking great at the moment with the flooded fields attracting large numbers of birds. Today there were 35 Lapwing , 50 Mallard , 1 LBBGull , 2 Herring Gull , 100 + Common Gull  , 40 BH Gull , 1 Curlew ( very early returning bird) , 2 Stock Dove , 75 Starling , 4 Mistle Thrush  and a good mix of Jackdaw , Carrion Crow and Rooks . With January over I managed 70 species locally.

Pinks scrape in at the end of January

252 Pinks over the house today , making a right old racket...Glad Dave picked them up at Cold Edge and got a decent count and a few pics, 2 Ravens (must be following me) heading west with a bit of display thrown in. Plenty of Gulls w/s/w .The two foxes were out and about most of the day , one walking right down the centre of the road....

Photo from Cold edge Dams same flock 5 mins later ( Dave Sut)

Jay house lane Raven's

 Went to have a look at the masses of small gulls on Jay house lane today. As soon as I got out of the car I could hear a Raven not too far away  ....I have never seen Raven this far east before .? Then again  , really close ,  cronking away , it was about 30 feet above the road , then I herd another call behind me ,,another Raven flying at the same height on the other side of the road .They both flew low towards Wellholme Park . I remember last year some talk of them being seen at Cromwell Bottom and I had a couple of sightings over  the house last autumn.Good to hear them at such a low level.?? Also 100's of BH and Common Gulls , 48 Mallard , 15 Meadow Pipits , Fieldfare ,  Redwing  and a single Teal on the bottom pond.

First sign of Spring

A warm s/w wind   blew up the valley today. At least 10 degrees in the sun. The local Buzzard was soaring on the thermals above the local wood .A  female Sparrowhawk was circling high in the valley and 2 Kestrels were hunting along the tall hedge. 2 large Foxes were just sat out in the field enjoying the  sun along with 10 Stock Doves . The recent gull movement west continued most of the day mainly BH and Commons , but the odd flock of HG .An adult LBBgull was in the field. 4 Bullfinch , 1 Goldcrest  and a small flock of Siskin .was about it.

Pink footed geese

The first part of January is the usually the best time to see pink footed geese here , heading east or west , but for some reason this year i have only seen 1 so far.

Soil Hill

Rarer than rare

Today between the endless snow showers , I went to Shibden Park and bumped into a very rare sight (for me) last time I saw it was in Spain in  September 2002 not a Black -shouldered Kite or Spanish Imperial Eagle..... no it was............. . Pete Grrrrrba one of Halifax's longest and oldest birdwatchers wandering around on a 10 mile hike..Good to see you Pete and I hope to see you again soon....LOL
A Kingfisher sat on one of the boats , 5 Mute Swan and 6 Siskin was about it....

Ogden and an interesting (adult YL ) Gull .??

Ogden in the snow blizzard at 12.30 produced little of note except a calling Tawny Owl , 40 Mallard and about 5 Cole Tits...Then mid afternoon between the snow storms gulls were on the move west right into the grey clouds full of snow. About 50 BH Gulls , then 10 Commons a couple of first winter type Herring Gulls and then more BH and Commons .Then an adult gull was right in front of me about 25/30 feet above me. Very clean and  pure white head deffo not a Argentatus  /  Herring Gull did not appear massive at all or look like a normal adult Herring Gull . Its feet looked bright yellow and its bill also stood out as being bright yellow with large red blotch and if it would have been July or  August I would have had no problem with adult YLGull but January ??  It all honesty it looked spot on for adult YLGull .Why do I never have the camera when it matters....

Shibden Park and Cold Edge

Another day of gloom , not much about but 5 Mute Swans , Coot , Moorhen , GS Woodpecker  and Bullfinch , Siskin , Treecreeper at Shibden . 30 Fieldfare,  4 Teal , 2 Goldeneye , 2 Tufted Duck and  a few Red Grouse at Cold edge. 11 Blackbirds , 1 Song Thrush , 2 Mistle thrush , 10 Redwing and 4 Fieldfare in the field this morning and a GBBgull east , 30 Herring Gull north .  Makes a poor 64 for the start of the year.

What is going on with Redpolls.......................????

More moors

Headed up to the moors again today. A real afternoon 3 kestrel , 2 Buzzards , 8 Greylags , 3 Herring Gulls , 1 Dipper and at least 5/6  Hen Harrier  today and my 7 individual for the winter and even a possibilty of and 8th bird .  4 female Hen Harriers and 1 male seen together today and 1 other possible ringtail . Added to this an adult female with satellite tag and a first winter male seen on previous occasions . Two ringtails seen flying in from the north were both fully winged with one a bit larger , these were classed as a 2cy and 3cy . The adult female which looks like it has been shot at a couple of times was very active today (probably not shot on these moors?). The adult male was also very mobile . The east wind was about  3/4 at dusk.
In the gloom at dusk on the moors its very difficult to asses the true number of birds present but this is a possible account of birds seen so far. ?? ( with lots of help from NCD)
1= Adult Male

(photo AC)

2= first winter male
3 = Adult female ( shot at in both wings  very tatty)

(photo NCD , DF) 

4 = Satellite tagged adult female
5 = fully winged ringtail (poss 3cy)
6 = fully  winged ringtail (slightly smaller 2cy)
7 = Ringtail  with primary missing on left wing

                                                  (photo Phil D)
8 = Ringtail with  secondries missing on both wings.

(photo Phil D)

9 = Large adult Female fully winged .? (often seen with male)

                                                                 (photo DF)
10 = Female with tatty tail ( difficult to see unless fanned )

Whitby...Desert Wheatear

Also in the area Golden plover , Lapwing , Red throated Diver , Eider , Reed Bunting , Fulmar , ...

Calderdale Bird List

I have updated my Calderdale species list which now stands at 202...There is a link on the right hand side of the blogg .\this will be updated with more information soon.  Common Lesser whatever Redpoll and   lesser Mealey thingy  have now been lumped back together so I revert back to calling them A  Redpoll ...and the pale sub sp  Mealey .............. (203 with Redpolls now being split back into 2 ????)

2018....HNY

The first venture out round the cricket pitches started with 3 Starlings and 2 Mistle Thrush. Soon followed by Herring, Black Headed and Common Gulls, House Sparrow , 7 Blackbirds, Carrion Crow , Magpie , Jay ,Rook , Jackdaw Woodpigeon and Stock Dove. A quick visit to Brighouse added  Nuthatch , Robin , Dunnock , Blue , Cole , Great and Long tailed Tits, Golfinch , Chaffinch , Meadow Pipit , Mallard and Grey Heron.30 lapwing at Self Moor..
 On the 2nd the first raptor of the year was a male Hen Harrier soon followed by a female and then 4 Buzzards, Red Grouse and Pheasant.....Not bad for 2 days of rain, gales and mist.