Redstart

It was nice to catch up with breeding Redstarts in Calderdale today  ,with a stunning male showing very well and a couple of juv's one had a very short tail...........Thats half way through the year and its been a beauty with 2 news Calderdale moths last night ,Blood - vien and  Double Square Spot.....

HOBBY

Well its all getting very continental around here , with Nightjar ,  Roller and today a stunning adult Hobby low over the cricket pitch..I saw it with its back to me at first a beautiful blue grey , I could see its white face patch , and as it turned red vent and black spots stood out a mile..Fantastic run of good birds this year....Hen Harriers , SEOwl , Barn Owl ,Whooper Swan , Black Redstart , Pintail , Shoveler , Red Kite , Whimbrel , Purple Sandpiper , Ruff , Sanderling ,Ring Ouzel , Gos ,  Pied Fly , Roller , Nightjar and now HOBBY.......

NIGHTJAR

My first ever Calderdale Nightjar tonight ,,churring away and some distant flight views// Also roding Woodcock ,..............The last Nightjar in Calderdale was way back in 1992 at Walshaw Dean....

Widdop Gate , Swallows

Also in the area , Buzzard , 3 Siskin , 5 Greenfinch , Kestrel , Raven ,Curlew , Snipe , Lapwing 45+ fly over...............

BROOD MEDDLING

Hen Harrier Brood Management

In a few months’ time the outcome of the 2019 Hen Harrier breeding season will be announced. Some people will claim that it has been a good year and others will trumpet the outcome as a great year for Hen Harriers in England. Neither of these claims will be true, nor will they accurately reflect the fact that whatever the number of fledglings actually is this year, the population will remain perilously low for years to come despite the fact that there is sufficient space for c 300 pairs in the northern uplands.

If brood management goes ahead as planned 2019 will not be remembered as a good year for the English Hen Harrier population. It will be remembered, by leading conservation groups, including NERF, and Raptor Workers across the country as the year that Natural England, the English Statutory Nature Conservation Organisation betrayed Hen Harriers to placate the grouse shooting industry. An industry that is, according to Natural England’s own data, largely responsible for the unexplained demise of 72% of Hen Harriers satellite tagged by their own staff. With that knowledge it is not unreasonable to assume that a similar percentage of un-tagged birds ‘disappeared’ under identical circumstances over the same period. It is also clear from press releases issued by RSPB that many of the birds satellite tagged as part of their Hen Harrier Life Project have also suffered the same fate on land managed for grouse shooting.

Natural England’s answer to those facts is the implementation of their flawed policy of Hen Harrier brood management on the basis that it is essential for Hen Harrier conservation and will lead to an increase in the English population. That second assertion may be true during the breeding season but it totally ignores the fact that all of the evidence reveals that persecution is more problematic after the chicks disperse from their breeding grounds. Brood management will do nothing to prevent persecution despite claims to the contrary. Anyone who believes that the entire grouse shooting industry will wholeheartedly welcome an increase in the Hen Harrier population is at best delusional. There are members of the industry who won’t even tolerate the small number of birds that already reside in, or transit through, the uplands at the present time let alone an increased number.

Following the confirmation that brood management has taken place this year NERF fully expects an announcement in due course from Natural England stating how many eggs, or chicks were taken in to the scheme, what the hatching rates were from each clutch, what the fledging rates were and confirmation that the birds were released back onto the moors from which they were removed. The project calls for all of the chicks to be satellite tagged prior to release back to the wild and for reasons of transparency NERF expects to read a prompt press release when the birds either die naturally or ‘disappear’ in circumstances that suggest persecution was the probable cause. The press release should include the location of the last known fix from the satellite tag.

Whilst Natural England has the legal right to undertake brood management, because they licensed themselves to do it. However, there is no right way to do the wrong thing and there is, in NERF’s opinion no justification for pursuing the brood management of Hen Harriers. We often hear the Police say that they cannot arrest their way out of the Hen Harrier persecution problem and in part that may be true. However, it is also true that Government policy should not be influenced by individuals or organisations that rely on criminality for their industry to prosper.

Additionally we need to know how much of the significant cost of brood management is being borne, not by the industry which has created the problem through illegal persecution, but by the British tax payer.

Despite the hype that we can expect at the end of the breeding season, 2019 will not be a good year for Hen Harriers in England.

NERF

June 2019

SWIFTS ON THE MOVE

An good evening for Swifts on the move north saw aprox  275 between 18.30 and 19.30........

Ogden...thick fog and Heavy rain

It could be November but its June.....2 Blackcap , 3 Chiffchaff , 2 LbbGull , 2 Tufted Duck and 4 Song Thrush.

Dodging the rain

Ringstone....2 Teal (m+f) , 2 Tufted Duck (m+f) ,2 GCGrebe , 1 young Roe Deer drinking on the shore line ,2 Oycks ,2 Common Sands ,1 LRP , Lapwing and Curlew
 Fly Flatts..300 Gulls mainly LBBGulls + and a few Herrings , 1 BHGull drifted through , 2 SEO ,Dunlin , Redshanks (3 pairs with young ) , Lapwing , Curlew , Ringed Plover. 1 Stoat carrying food.
 Blake Dean ,,Male Siskin , 3 Cuckoo , 2 SEO , Lapwing ,Ocks , Curlew , 2 GP and a few Kestrel..Red Admiral and Green veined Whites

Shibden Park

11 Coot chicks , 5 Mute Swan cygnets and 5 Mallard chicks at  Shibden Park today . 1 singing Garden Warbler , Kestrel  and Blackcap , Im sure Ann Lister would be very happy with the place today looked fantastic.......At home there has been an explosion of young birds about , House Sparrows , Goldfinch , Great Tit , Blue Tit  and Blackbirds. The local Nuthatch are still feeding young in the nest...

ROLLER

Many thanks Richard Raynor

Fantastic in flight shot by Gary Waddington

                                                 

A Roller showed very well this evening at Crimsworth Dean for about 90 minutes,,,,also in the area Pied Fly x 2 , Little Owl ,Cuckoo x 2, SEO x 3 , female Sparrowhawk , Snipe , Kestrel   and Garden Warbler