Sunday, 14 December 2025

Calderdale Birds 2025 and what a year it was..





 Calderdale so far this year...1) Red Kite , 2) Peregrine Falcon , 3 ) Kestrel , 4) Sparrowhawk , 5 ) Hen Harrier , 6 ) Buzzard , 7 ) Barn Owl , 8 ) Little Owl , 9 )Tawny Owl , 10 ) Med Gull , 11)  LBBGull 12 ) GBBGull , 13 ) Herring Gull , 14 )Common Gull , 15 ) BH Gull , 16 )  Pink F Goose ,  17 ) Whooper Swan , 18 ) Mute Swan , 19) Coot , 20 ) Moorhen  , 21 ) Mallard , 22 ) Pochard , 23 ) Tufted Duck , 24 ) Scaup , 25 ) , Goldeneye  , 26 )  Shoveler , 27 ) Mandarin Duck ,  28 )  Widgeon , 29 ) Teal , 30 ) Goosander , 31 ) Little Grebe , 32) Greylag Goose , 33 )Canada Goose , 34) Red Grouse , 35)  Pheasant , 36 ) Red-legged Partridge , 37 ) Cormorant , 38 ) Grey Heron , 39 ) Kingfisher , 40 ) Dipper , 41 ) Grey Wagtail , 42 ) Pied Wagtail , 43) Lapwing , 44 ) Golden Plover , 45) Feral Pigeon , 46 ) Woodpigeon , 47 ) Stock Dove , 48 ) Collared Dove , 49 ) Great Spotted Woodpecker , 50 )Green Woodpecker , 51 ) Treecreeper , 52 ) Nuthatch ,  53 )Wren , 54 )Robin , 55 ) Dunnock , 56 ) House Sparrow , 57 )Tree Sparrow , 58 ) Meadow Pipit , 59 ) Skylark , 60) Chaffinch , 61 ) Brambling , 63) Goldfinch , 63) Greenfinch , 64 ) Redpoll , 65 ) Siskin , 66) Crossbill , 67 ) , Bullfinch 68 ) Reed Bunting , 69) , Blackbird , 70) Song Thrush , 71 ) Mistle Thrush , 72 ) Fieldfare , 73 ) Redwing , 74 ) Goldcrest , 75 ) Jay , 76) Raven , 77 ) Rook , 78 ) Jackdaw , 79 ) Carrion Crow , 80 ) Magpie , 81) Starling , 82 ) Blue Tit , 83 ) Great Tit , 84 ) Long - tailed Tit , 85 ) Cole Tit , 86) Stonechat , 87 ) Common Snipe, 88 ) Jack Snipe , 89) Blackcap , 90 )  Curlew  , 91 ) Oystercatcher , 92 ) Barnacle Goose , 93 ) Egyptian Goose ,  94 )Ringed Plover , 95) Short -eared Owl , 96 ) Redshank , 97 ) Woodcock ,98) Merlin  , 99) Chiffchaff 100)  Linnet  101) Great Crested Grebe .102) LRPlover 103) Shelduck 104)Wheatear 105) Twite 106) Swallow 107) Sand Martin 108) House Martin 109 ) Yellowhammer110) Willow Warbler 111) Common Scoter....11th APRIL ONWARDS , 112 ) Common Sandpiper 113) Ring Ouzel 114) Cuckoo , 115) Common Whitethroat 116 ) Garden Warbler , 117 ) Grasshopper Warbler , 118) Dunlin  , 119 ) Ruff , 120) Swift.121) Sanderling 122) Yellow Wagtail 123 ) Long -eared Owl 124) Reed Warbler , 125) Quail , 126) Common Tern  127) Nightjar 128) Hobby 129) Black -tailed Godwit 130 ) Sedge Warbler 131 ) Greenshank 132 ) Spotted Flycatcher 133 ) Common Redstart 134 ) Black Redstart 135 ) Marsh Harrier .136) Little Egret 137) Lesser Whitethroat 138 ) Whinchat 139 ) Whimbrel   140) Turnstone 141 ) Caspian Gull  142) Osprey 143 ) Little Stint 144) Curlew Sandpiper 145 ) Bar-tailed Godwit 146 ) Yellow - legged Gull .147 ) Grey Partridge 148) Arctic Skua 149 ) Pintail 150) Siberian Stonechat .151) Gadwall 152 ) Knot 153) Grey Plover 154 ) Shag

1) Nightjar call only

2 ) Egyptian Goose .?

3 ) Siberian Stonechat (BBRC needs to accept this)

Thursday, 20 November 2025

Whiteholme ...

 The birds kept coming up until early November  , Little Egret , male Pintail , Merlin , Starlings  , Woodpigeon , Peregrine , Whooper Swans and many flocks of Pink footed Geese, Today the 20th of November the winds had turned to the north , a bitterly cold wind that cut you in half on the exposed dam wall..only 8 species , Reed Bunts x 2 , Carrion Crow  x5 , Red Grouse x 4 , Herring Gull x 1 , BH Gull x 17 and Common Gull x 5 , Starling x 33(30 +3) and 1 Raven...... but a brilliant autumn at Whiteholme.


Wednesday, 19 November 2025

Wednesday, 5 November 2025

Late Wader for Whiteholme

 A fantastic couple of mornings at Whiteholme , 

 Wedneasday Pinks 650 + in 9 skeins , Starlings 850 + in 7 tight flocks , 3 Woodpigeon , 3 Herring Gulls , 1 GBBGull and 4 Black - headed Gulls all moving west .The highlight a very distant Grey Plover (honest).....

Thursday ..Pinks 310 , Starlings 1098 , Lapwing 3 , Herring Gull 5 , Skylark , Merlin , Woodpigeon 234 , and another or the same Grey Plover the one today looked la lot darker ...












Saturday, 1 November 2025

Monday, 27 October 2025

Woodcock and Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting
Woodcock
 Thought this was a rabbit at first as it ran through the grass !! ,  not often you see them on the ground and during the day..!!!!!! in Mablethorpe ,and then nearly tripped over this Snow Bunting at last light on the coastal path...
 

Sunday, 26 October 2025

Gulls


 
                                                                           






                                                      


Friday, 17 October 2025

Whiteholme Wader Week

 A calm and still week at White holme with an average of 10 species  per visit. It has been another interesting week , ending with the star bird being a winter plumage Knot today. Earlier in the week Redshank , Dunlin , Snipe , Golden Plover and Lapwing. There  was very little vis - mig going on this week except  6 Fieldfare and 2 Redwings south.........7 Widgeon , 2 Mallard and 4 Widgeon   on the water .....No Rock Pipit or Snow Bunting but maybe next week.....and perhaps the most unusual sighting involved a Dunnock amongst the rocks on the far shoreline( a Dunnock at 1250feet above sea level in October  ??)





Wednesday, 15 October 2025

Ringstone Ducks


 Last few days at Ringstone , 12 Common Scoter all female types , 6 Gadwall , 2 Widgeon , 1 Goldeneye, 1 Pochard , Mallards and 1 common sand still....

Tuesday, 14 October 2025

European Doormouse Glis glis



 What a surprise this was .............

Friday, 10 October 2025

Italy and Slovenia

A fantastic trip to Slovenia via Italy , highlights were Wallcreeper , Alpine Chough , Alpine Accentor , Nutcracker , Pygmy Owl , Three toed Woodpecker , Ural Owl , Eurasian Door mouse , Fire Salamander , Grey Headed , Black and Middle Spotted  Woodpecker  , Golden Eagle , Firecrest, PendulineTit plenty Gulls to sift through and a lot of laughs , cheers Nick Carter and Andy Huyton...



                                                Ural Owl
Three toed Woodpecker

                                                                         Pygmy Cormorant        
Bald Ibis in Italy

Bald Ibis
Bald Ibis
                                                           Cattle Egret






Mount Nanos


 

We spent most of the morning looking for White-backed Woodpecker in the forest slopes of Mount Nanos with very little reward. So we headed up the high road to the top , we got to 3500 feet and had a good look round , good numbers of migrating butterfly's included Clouded Yellow , Red Admiral and Brimstones and around the tracks and boulders we found Wall Brown , Queen of Spain Fritillary and Small Heath. There was a fine assortment of calling grasshoppers and crickets , and a couple of Griffon Vultures drifted west. The view was extraordinary with Croatia , Italy , Venice the Alps including Mount Blanc and the Matterhorn , Julian Alps and the coast of Slovenia

  More Griffon Vulture headed west with 15 individuals seen , 3 Sparrowhawks , 2 Buzzards , 27 Raven, 1 Peregrine  , 1 Golden Eagle , 1 Marsh Harrier  and a surprise Black Woodpecker over high west, 100's of finches headed north mainly Chaffinch and 20 Meadow Pipits were also present with 4 Black Redstarts......

Thursday, 9 October 2025

Slovenia...




                                                                   Wallcreeper
 
Ural Owl




Alpine Accentor
                                                                     Alpine Chough