PINKS.............................

A pre dawn dash to the hills was well worth the effort.......
Pink - footed Geese 413 (105 +175 + 80 + 44 + 9) S/E
Meadow Pipit 245  S/W
Skylark 20 S/W
Black headed Gull 26 S/W
Starling 9 S/W
Hen Harrier 2 high S/W (1 stunning male and 1 ringtail)
Merlin juv female chasing meadow Pipits
Swallow 3 S/W
Jay 1 S/W
Lapwing 8 (6+2) S/W

1 x Goosander , 2 Grey Wagtail , 1  Pied Wagtail , Kestrel 8 , Buzzard 1, Mallard 40 + a few displaying when the sun came out . A very strange sighting of a Weasel on top of a fence post hissing at 2 Pheasants sat on a wall , the Pheasants did not seem bothered at all..!!

Ducks on the move and last of the Butterflies

A real autumn feel today on the tops.A small group of 5 Widgeon and 3 Teal , 1 Ring Ouzel, 5/6 Buzzards , 5 Kestrels and Meadow Pipits zipping about. The highlight of the day was watching a Ringtail Hen Harrier catch a rodent of some sort , lightning fast.............
  Hollas Bridge 19th - 23rd

                                                                  Comma

                                                        Common Blue

Black  Darter

Raptors on all sides

Walsahw Dean 16.09.19......Thanks to the head keeper for pointing out a Ring Ouzel a few weeks ago..and finally got the latest Halifax birdwatchers report great read as usual....

Red Kite x 1 (high south west)
Osprey x 1 ( along the gorple ridge s/w)
Merlin (1 ad fem and 2 juvs , the 2 Juvs mobbed Hen Harrier continually )
Hen Harrier x 1
Buzzard x 11 ( 3 + 3 + 3 + 2)
Sparrowhawk x 2
Kestrel x 6
Wheatear x 4
Swallows x 30 s/w

HEN HARRIER’S,  BREEDING ATTEMPTS on WALSHAW DEAN ESTATE 2018.

After the incredible winter of 2017 – 18 when we had record numbers of wintering Hen Harriers, 11 or 12 birds including 2 adult males, it was thought that it might be possible for a pair to settle and attempt to breed. Little did we know what was about to unfold? We had an adult male present since the following autumn so when a second adult male turned up on 23^rd March it seemed to trigger a response from our original bird with skydancing noted on 24^th March. This display was intensified the next day and the second male didn’t stay long and was not seen again after the 25^th. By 29^th March we still had 5 females and 1 adult male which was now starting to follow one of the females around, flying above her and with both birds then slowly soaring together. Alarm bells started to ring so we called a meeting of the Calderdale Raptor Study Group in early April, to go over our options of what to do in the case of a breeding attempt. It soon became obvious that we were in a precarious situation, with the RSPB not being allowed on to the estate for one reason or another, so we would have to go through Natural England. The other problem we had was what to do with the information, do we go public with it or do we keep it quiet, the RSPB and Natural England both told us to keep it under our hats, not even some of our closest friends and colleagues could be told. This didn’t sit well with some of us, but hey we had never been in this situation before so we bowed to the judgement of those who knew best. On 8^thApril both the adult male and female were seen carrying nesting material into deep heather, and this was continued by the female over the next few weeks with the male starting to skydance again from 14^th April. Around this time we hit our first major problem, Natural England had informed the landowners of the nesting attempt and had put an exclusion zone around the nest site of 250 meters, this didn’t seem to deter the keepers who over the next few days were driving around all over the moor in an half track vehicle cutting the heather, one even started to walk up and down the moor carrying a GPS device in order to map out areas to be burnt, so he told us. They may have been outside the exclusion zone but our female harrier obviously didn’t like this because she abandoned the first nest and started to build a second close by. After several days building this second nest was also abandoned as the half - track continued to drive up and down the moor. We asked the RSPB for advice and they rang the Police who came out to talk to the estate telling them they were too close no doubt. Then on 21^st April the female had moved into a patch of bracken lower down the hillside much closer in a small gully, unfortunately close to a public footpath. Over the next week or so the pair was seen mating and the famous food pass was witnessed on numerous occasions. On 20^th April the male flew over the nest site with prey but the female didn’t come out to take it from him, so he flew off and 2 observers watched him travel some 2.5KM to the east with it. This got the observers thinking where’s he going with that? So next day they checked out the area he had flown into and low and behold he had a second female with another nest. Natural England and the rest of the raptor group where informed strait away and we started to draw up a plan to watch over both nests. This second female at site B had been present all winter and was very distinctive, having two large gaps in her left wing and a missing central tail feather. On 30^th April this nest was checked by Natural England and was found to have 6 eggs in it, so cameras were put in to keep a careful watch. Back at site A mating between the pair continued and food was being brought by the male in good supply. On 1^st May one raptor worker reported gunshots coming from a small wood fairly close to where the harriers were nesting at site A. Natural England went in to put cameras on this nest on 3^rd May and found 4 eggs that felt cold.  It soon became apparent that site A had failed as the female went missing and was never seen again after 1^st May. This was very disappointing but we still had site B, which had 6 eggs, so we all moved and kept a close watch at a safe distance. Over the next few weeks things seemed to be going really well with the male regularly seen bringing in food for the female which would take it from the him with the famous food pass, she would then either take it back to the nest or eat it on the moor some distance away. On 12^th May a third female turned up but was thought to be just passing through and was not seen again. Our female looked like making a good parent as she would occasionally come off the nest to drive off Short-eared Owls that came too close, she could also be seen apparently turning the eggs and adding material to the nest. Everything was going well until the male disappeared on 16^th May, he was not seen over the next few days but the female was still sat on the nest so he may just have been missed. The female was seen to come off the nest in the early morning of 20^th May then nothing! Both adults simply vanished, to say she was such a distinctive bird with obvious gaps in the left wing it seems odd she was never seen again. Natural England went in to check on 29^th May and sadly confirmed our fears that both nests had failed. To say we were gutted is an understatement, we were so close to a hatching date, who knows what might have been if the eggs had hatched. Obviously people felt very angry and upset at these failures and questions started to be asked, Natural England suggested that the male was not bringing in enough food, but he was a full adult and we watched him catch voles on several occasions and witnessed many food passes at both sites, also it was a “vole” year and several species of Owls took advantage of this food supply with record numbers nesting, we alone found 12 pairs of Barn Owls, 14 pairs of Long-eared and Short-eared Owls were through the roof with possibly as many of 30 pairs in Calderdale. One Barn Owl was seen to catch 4 voles in 15 minutes not 1 km from site B. Kestrels also took advantage of this abundant food source, so to say it was down to lack of prey just doesn’t make any sense at all. We will probably never know for sure what went wrong, intentional or un-intentional disturbance by the general public or keepers, apparently, they were allowed to check small mammal traps on the moors one of which was only a few metres away from nest site A. Both nests being located close to public footpaths, but we only saw one of these being used on only one occasion by 2 members of the public. Perhaps the male left to follow the third female that turned up, but that wouldn’t explain site A failing. We also had a boy flying a drone close to site A on 29^th April two days before the female disappeared, but he was thought to be too far away to have caused any problem. All together it proved to be very exciting and very stressful, it’s just a great shame that Calderdale’s first known nesting Hen Harriers failed for un-known reasons. We may have strong suspicions but the honest truth is that we just don’t know why both nests failed. Finally, we would just like to thank all the members of the Calderdale Raptor Study Group who gave up their valuable time to give this truly fantastic magnificent bird of prey a chance.

Harrier Sp Mount Tabor 14th September 2019

Pallid /Montagu’s Harrier  Circus pygargus / macrourus?

Mount Tabour 14^th September 2019

Wind SW4, cloud-cover 3/8, temperature 6 ℃, visibility excellent

Distance from bird between 100 m and 150m, apox 2 minute observation, through bins.

Circumstances

 I was on my way to see a Black Redstart that had been hanging around all week at Fly flats  As I drove towards Mount Tabour at apox  SE 05715 26793 , I noticed a group of Meadow Pipits and Starlings mobbing a bird of prey , must be a Sparrowhawk I thought as I have seen them hunting here many times. It looked more falcon like, I pulled the car over and grabbed my bins. The bird was just over the road and still being mobbed by the Pipits. It was a Harrier (ahhhh) slim and fast and flighty .I immediately ruled out Hen Harrier as I see them on a regular basis and I knew this was not a Hen too thin and agile. The Harrier flew low along the wall at one point gliding over the wall and was lost to view , it then came back into view and again  over the wall and then headed west it was being mobbed all the time and flushing Starlings that were sat on the wall.  I got a very good view of the bird as it flew away, switching its head from side to side. It was not an adult male unfortunately and looked like a Montagu’s/ Pallid Harrier juv / female type. I sent a text to local grapevine saying small Harrier sp heading s/w  to see if it was picked up elsewhere but this drew a blank.

 Description

      At first glance(still driving)I had considered a falcon perhaps one of  the local Peregrines that had been hanging around or the local Sparrowhawk , but when I got my binns on the bird I could see it was a Harrier , light bounding flight and as they say Tern like , it was a Harrier but not Hen Harrier as I have watched them for many , many hours only a few miles from this spot. It was not an adult male as they are easily to recognise. It was a juvenile / female type , thin hand and pointed ,and thin arm making wings look long  , with dark secondary ’s and dark trailing edge ,  long tail with slim white rump. The body looked uniform and pale ocre with no vis- able streaks and there was no strongly marked collar. ( Was it a late Monty’s or an early  Pallid , I had ruled out Pallid as there was no vis- able ‘Boa’ but this may not be the case in all individuals)

 As the bird flew away the striking thin tail with thin white rump stood out  I could see a few black dots in the white ‘ rump ‘  the  wing coverts were pale and scaly and looked to have a golden sheen in the sun this contrasted with dark secondary’s and primary ‘s ( this view made me think Pallid). The head was turning from side to side and no collar could be seen. I was now thinking it was a juv Montagu’s Harrier but I had not been able to count the primary‘s as it flew across the wall and when it flew away which I think would have clinched it.  I am convinced it was a Pallid / Montagu’s Harrier with 100% identification not possible with views obtained .

 On the 1^st October 2019, I bumped into one of the local East Lacns birders  who showed me the pictures of the Montagu’s Harrier at nearby Pendle Hill a few days before and this could have been the same bird , but in some photos it looked totally different  . Although it was taken in bright sunshine which highlighted the colours, it was a bright striking individual with very distinct neck markings . !!

Experience…

Hen harrier …Since Nov 2017 I have had at least 200 sightings of local Hen Harriers, hunting , roosting etc . I have also watched them at the nest site, displaying, foodpass and courtship flights.

Local Montagu’s Harrier

2014 watched the female Montagues Harrier near Leeshaw Reservoir display flight and hunting.

2000 watched first summer male at Langsett / Midhope area on a couple of afternoons.

Pallid Harrier

Adult male Pallid Harrier at Dunsop Bridge watched collecting nesting material, sky dancing and calling.

2015 Found a 2cy Pallid Harrier at Cornisholme Lincolnshire 2016 accepted by BBRC (BB110 p 572) Lincolnshire bird report 2015 page 63.

Also seen Montagu’s Harrier on Migration at Tarifa , Cyprus and Lesvos . I have also seen Montagu’s Harriers in France breeding ground in 2014 and 2015 near holiday cottage.

Walshaw

9 Stonechats , 4 Raven , 3 Buzzards , 2 Sparrowhawk and plenty of House Martins and Swallows

Walshaw ...

8.00 - 11.30 ...low hill fog clearing around 10.30

Swallow 500 + s/w
Meadow Pipit 400 + blogging and S/w
House Martin 20 s/w
Sand Martin 5 s/w
Pied Wagtail x 5 blogging
White Wagtail x 1 at Gorple
Mistle Thrush x 17
Raven x 3
Marsh Harrier (cream crown) x 1
Buzzard x 2
Kestrel x 3
Redstart x 3
Spotted Flycatcher x 2
Goldcreast x 2
Siskin x 20 +
Red Admiral x 1
Southern Hawker x 1

Autumn kicks in

A busy morning with plenty Meadow Pipits and Swallows heading south , a female Wheatear on the cricket pitch ,  70 + Goldfinch , 14 Linnet , 1 partridge sp ,1  Snipe over calling .This afternoon saw a  'kettle ' of 6 Buzzards and 2 Sparrowhawks south. juv Wren ,  Bullfinch and Green Woodpecker .
    Small Tortoiseshell , Small Copper ,3 Whites , Speckled wood and still plenty Painted Ladys..

September 1st , 2nd and territorial Ravens

A single Swift fighting with a male Sparrowhawk on the 1st and a single Swift on the 2nd . On the 3rd I watched from my garden a couple of Ravens in full flight display. they soared high wings very close together and then plunged towards the ground , then up again twisting and turning , then flying very close to the tree tops , splitting up and then again up into the sky together.
   Looks like the local Buzzards have failed this year with only one bird being seen for the last couple of weeks , but local Sparrowhawks have done ok with a juv female hunting in the garden this week..