Third time lucky

Eventually connected with Sanderling at Fly Flatts today , Brians 3rd lot of Sanderlings today , having missed the first 2 lots , I am glad to get three today.Tricky with the wind up there today , I found 1 straight away but the other 2 took some finding ..Cheers Bri

Sanderlings pic Bri 

Weekly roundup.........

On Sunday the 26th the local Cricket pitch was alive with the calls of young Starlings , at least 130 Starlings with 60 being this years juvs . A Garden Warbler could be herd calling at the bottom of the long hedge a rare bird in Northowram also a Whitethroat singing close by.
  A dash to see the Baikal Teal on Wednesday showed well but distant a very special looking duck..Common Tern , Sparrowhawk , Buzzard , Pochard , Gadwall , Marsh Harrier and a stunning Hobby .......
  Ringstone held Tufted Duck , 2 GCGrebe , Common Sand , LRP  and  Red legged partridge .
 An Egret sp flew low down in the valley  this evening...

Crimsworth Dean...

Spotted Flycatcher , Little Owl , Chiff , Willow Warbler , Blackcap and this Kestrel by the track...

Ringstone Waders......

Well Purple Sandpiper makes it my 29th wader species for Ringstone....26 self found ( wood sand , Little Stint , Purple sand , Dotterel and Spotted Red ) and 3 twitched (Buff Brest , Curlew Sand and Temminck's Stint) hope I find Pec Sand next.........and never seen Woodcock at Ringstone...

Summer Plumage Purple Sandpiper

I arrived at Ringstone on my way to Manchester Airport to pick up some family. There were lots of gulls and a couple of GCGrebes , A look on the shoreline 1 LRP , 1 lapwing , 1 Oyck and little else on the first scope , the heat haze was terrible and I turned on the gulls 14 LBBGull , 6 BHGull and 1 Herring Gull....Another scope on the shoreline excellent 2 Ringed Plover ,1 Dunlin and another LRp and huddled together.Text out to the locals...I will have another look another wader caught my eye dull looking thing in the stones no colour but deffo not a Dunlin..!!!
   It was hard to pick out as the heat haze was strong ,  but it seemed to have white flanks with black spots , leg colour pale and bill dark could not get any detail , at one point I saw it run away from the back which looked like a squashed circle and low down , this is what made me think Purple Sand  ...It had to be a Purple Sand but not enough detail to be 100% so called for reinforcements as I had to leave to do my pick up..Fortunatley John Marsh and Phil D got some photo's and DJS got some better views later on ,,excellent thanks lads for confirming............

Hobby , Hobby and more Hobby

Well a trip to Thorne Moors today was very special ,,,I have never seen as many Hobby a low estimate was 25 birds , but they were everywhere, small flocks of 10 or 15  feasting on the thousands and thousands  of 4 spotted chasers dragonflies....I watched  numerous adult Hobby catch them and eat them on the wing..Twisting , stooping , chasing and even bombing a Marsh harrier at one point. There were at least 8 Marsh harrier including a very smart old male that gave excellent views for long periods.
  Nick was playing and cursing his new camera , and was looking for the perfect shot as he disappeared down a track.......... I herd him call loudly .....CRANE !!!!!..as one took off from the reeds to his right ..a prehistoric monster took to the skies and flew along the top of the  hedge before I lost it to view....
  Other birds  Tree Pipit ,Shelduck , Gadwall, Shoveler , Reed , Garden ,Sedge Warblers , Cuckoos were common , Swift , Buzzard , Sparrowhawk . Great day.................

                                              CRANE....!!!!!!!!!! (great shout and photo  NCD)

Cricket Pitch (Headingly Leeds ODI ENG vs PKS)

2 Red Kite , 2 Sparrowhawk , 1 Buzzard , 1 Grey Heron , 2 Pied Wagtail , 10 + Swift , 3 House Sparrow , 2 Collard Dove , 5 Woodpigeon , 3 BH Gull , 8 LBBGull and 1 Herring Gull....

A few more migrants

 Went up Crimsworth Dean yesterday the woods were full of bird song ,,,Goldcrest , Willow Warbler , Robin , Song Thrush , Blackcap , Nuthatch , Pied Flycatcher , Spotted FLycatcher , Wren  and Chiffchaff.
   Fly Flatts produced very poor views of Ringed Plover , Dunlin , Curlew , Redshank ,  Lapwing , Common Sandpiper and Ruff in the heat haze..lots of gulls (BH , Herring and LBB)  up there but not enough time to sift through them...!!!

Cricket Pitch

A singing Blackcap was the first surprise this morning and then a Mallard collecting freshly cut  grass,,,I have seen all these species collecting nesting material / feeding on the cricket pitch recently Starling , Greenfinch , , House Sparrow , Dunnock , Blackbird , Jackdaw , Magpie , Carrion Crow , Mistle Thrush , Pied Wagtail ,Goldfinch ,  , Collard Dove, Stock Dove , Rook ,  Linnet and Woodpigeon.
LBBGull , Herring Gull , Sparrowhawk , Kestrel , Swallows ,Swift and Buzzard overhead.

Queensbury  Cricket Pitch held singing Skylark (3) Wheatear ( 2) Lapwing , Linnet and meadow Pipit............

Fly , Gorple and Walshaw

A  very wet evening with little to show for a long hike....Dunlin 7 , Redshank (very good year for this species locally) LRP , Wooodcock , 2 SEO , Wheatear , Song Thrush , Lapwing , Oycks , Golden Plover , Curlew and plenty Common Sandpipers.............

Good weather for Terns and Waders

A trip to fly flats looking for a Sanderling (great pics of Bri's blogg) but it had gone when  I got there , 21 Dunlin , 4 Redshank , 6 + Common Sandpiper and 6 Wheatear . A Common Tern at EGP and Kingfisher  , Widgeon at Ringstone along with 2 GC Grebes , Tufted Duck and 4 LBBgulls.Loads of Swift , House Martins , Swallows and Sand Martins....

More Warblers

Up to 3 reeling Grasshopper Warbler at Scammonden , a pair of Stonechat ,  4 Cormorant , Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff. Ringstone was busy with Swallows and a couple of Sand martin . Cromwell Bottom held 3 Garden Warbler , 10 Blackcap , 1 Reed Warbler , 1 Whitethroat ,  Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff....Kingfishers are showing very well at the moment...............

Swifts

First 2 Swifts of the year today , over the house at 6.50 this morning.......

  

Holly Blue in Brighouse garden  2nd May

High Moors

Went up to the high moors  with NCD on Tuesday evening , 3 SEO's , 2 LEO , Cuckoo , 2 Woodcock  display flight , 4 + Snipe display , 10 + Common Sandpipers display flight etc , 3 Redshank , Oystercatcher , 5 + Song Thrush , plenty Willow Warblers ,  4 Buzzards including one eating a rabbit , the bird of the night for me a Ring Ouzel ...

               

(photo NCD )