End of February

 Well it was quite warm when the sun came out but still the wind was cold..The first time you got a bit of a feeling that spring was not far away today..A small group of 5 Meadow Pipits , 2 Pied Wags  and 2 Skylarks headed N/W and a skein of 50 + Pink footed Geese went due west..Lapwings and Curlew were in the bottom field along with 2 Moorhens and 1 Grey Heron. Gulls were drifting south with plenty of BHeads , Commons and Herrings , but the bird of the day was an adult  Great - black backed Gull ......Dunnocks , Blackbirds and more singing Skylarks a Green Woodpecker called from Ned Hill track area , The Roe Deer stag was seen today which is the first time I've seen him for a while......5 females have been about for most of the winter , ..3 Stonechat were nice to see............2 distant Little Owls , singing Reed Bunt and Red legged Partridge....Barn Owls seen daily at the moment..

Iceland Gull Albert Reservoir , Pellon

 Bizarre how things happen , NCD found a 1st winter Iceland Gull on Pellon res , I got there pretty quickly as I was not far away. Got out of the car picked up the gull behind some hawthorns , I could see its wings flapping about , then it took off flew slowly round the res showing very well and was not seen again...............!!!!

SOil Hill Trig Point... Red Grouse and PFG

                             The original Trig point on Soil Hill before landfill took it up about 30 more feet..??

                                              Lots of Skylarks singing today

                                          Red Grouse pretty scarce on Soil Hill ...No seen  one up on Soil Hill for at least 10 years..???

                                    

Reading some old blogg posts last night I reckoned that I should give Raggalds flood a go and PFG very nice to see..this morning....

21st 12 Greenfinch , 1 Curlew over and 1 Red Grouse 

22nd Pink footed Goose on Raggalds Flood and first displaying Lapwings and 12 singing Skylark .Also Moorhen back on the lower ponds first time they have not been frozen over since late December.... 

 

                               
 

Jack Snipe....

 A few months ago now D.Branch told me where to go to look for Jack Snipe , after many goes in the area he showed me  and many flushed Snipe  I finally flushed a Jack Snipe today at dusk my second for Soil Hill..Skylark ,Barn Owl ,LEO , 2 Meadow Pipit and a Lesser blacked Gull over south...made for a good evening walk..

Iceland Gull

                                                    Iceland Gull today at Thornton cheees MP

                                          Dead TAwny Owl ,,,Peregrine kill..????

Robin...

The first singing Chaffinches today with 3 very vocal individuals , 100's and 100's of Gulls S/ W over Soil Hill mainly Commons but plenty BH and 100 + Herrings. 2 Male Pheasants were fighting with locked claws  and much squarking. 4 RL PArtridge , 1 Blackbird , 2 Collared Doves , 2 Kestrels and a Blue Tit....

Weasel

Weasel

                                                                          Barn Owl

 I've seen this little Beauty about 4/5 times recently and followed its tracks in the snow  but its so fast I have not been able to manage a photo till today......5 Roe Deer , 1 Red Fox , 3 Snipe and 3 Raven in the same area........A trip to Upper Walshaw Dean produced  a massive flock of Red Grouse 250 + never seen as many ...Buzzard , Kestrel , Sparrowhawk , Dipper , Barn Owl and a very distant HH .....

A very smart male Peregrine and 2 male Goosander over the house north this morning....

First Curlews

2 Curlew over the house this morning high north...then up to Queensbury on the lookout for Woodcock as there has been a bit of an influx along the east coast .it was bitterly cold on the way up to soil hill but I flushed 2 Snipe on the lower slopes , 1 Wren , 3 Red Legged Partridge , 3 Bullfinch (1 male 2 Female), 2 Magpie , 2 Jackdaw , 1 Raven and 1 Blackbird....1 Leo hunting along Taylor Lane made for an enjoyable walk..

First Skylarks

4 Skylarks today on Soil Hill , 1 Barn Owl  hunting towards Ogden , Fieldfare and  a Brian,,,,Chestnut and Dotted Border at home

Doe Park

Popped over to Dow Park the other day , Tissue was a good find along with 7 Heralds , 1 Green Woodpecker , plenty Fieldfares and Starlings , Scarlet Elf Cup and a cracking female Sparrowhawk across the road on the way back...Cheers Mark P ...