Clear at last

After days of rain and fog , today it cleared,. A beautiful juv Merlin was scrapping with a Carrion Crow and a Common Buzzard was doing the same with a massive Raven. Grey Wagtail , 2 BH Gull ,1 Greylag Goose , Grey Heron and 3 Hen Harriers tonight...ooooo it was good to be out..
A bitterly cold early morning visit produced nothing of note except 2 Pied Wags , 50 Fieldfare , 1 male Gooseander and 8 Greylags.....

Up to 450 Winter Moths flying this week in Only House Wood Northowram.

Whiteholme Drain

A walk along Whithole Drain today looking for Snow Buntings , no luck but a pair of Stonechat , 7 BH Gulls and a Carrion Crow.....Wednesday ...1 Peregrine , 2 Stonechat , 2 Wren , 2 Carrion Crow and a Kestrel ...5 Mandarin Duck at Ryburn

Lower Gorple 1,2,3,

Had a walk upto Lower Gorple mid afternoon. A flock of 18 Brambling and a few Fieldfare . 5 Grey Partridge , , 2 Buzzards , 2 Kestrels ,  2 Pied Wagtail , 8 Whooper Swans s/w , at least 30 Greylag geese were interesting as its a few weeks since there have been any up there , 12 Goldfinch , 3 Herring Gulls and at least 3 Hens. There were at least 28 birders around the reservoir which is very encouraging.
12 .11.19
 Nice to see 2 Barn Owls hunting , 4 Buzzards , 25 Fieldfare , 5 Herring Gull  and a couple Kestrels
15..11.19
  An early morning visit produced , 2 hens hunting around the plantations , 10 meadow pipit , 4 kestrels , 1 Buzzard , 1 Reed Bunting , 2 BH Gulls , 24 Mallard , 15 Cole Tits  1 Wren , 2 Robin , 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker ,  14 herring Gulls south , 3 Goldcrest , 10 Chaffinch and a cracking juv Merlin hunting the Chaffinch which landed in the top of a tree for a few minutes.

Woodpigeon..

Classic Woodpigeon migration date today and weather was ok but with cloud to the west  and clear to the east most flocks were too far away to count.

It was a good start with 1772 in the first hour , a few small flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing mixed in.

75 Pink footed Geese flew west this afternoon and the odd group of Herring Gulls east....

Red - breasted Merganser

Great find and photos by Phil D today at Ringstone...Bad weather = good birds
Cheers

North Wind

The first really cold northern blast blew across the moors today , you could feel that snow was not far away and last night produced the first hard frost of the year . A small group of 5 Grey Partridge was good to see and the odd flock of Woodpigeon . 2 female Hen Harriers played in the wind for a couple of hours and were joined by a beautiful male for about 45 minutes, twisting and turning over the golden moor the back and white standing out in the last rays of the fading sun..2 Raven , 2 Carrion Crow and 3 Buzzards .......................winter in here..........

Whoopers ...........

6 Whooper Swans dropped into lower Gorple this evening (3 adults and 3 Juvs) .2 Buzzards , 6 Common Gull , 2 BH Gull , 2 Hens and a distant Barn Owl...