the ups and Downs

Had a look round today in the storm hoping for a scarce gull or summat ...
Ogden

1 Little Grebe
1 tufted Duck
30 Mallard
4 LBBGull
2 Common Gull
20 BHGull

Cromwell Bottom

2 BH Gull

Jay House lane

50 + BH Gull
300+ Starlings

Ringstone
304 Canada Goose
1 Moorhen
2 Tufted Duck
179 Lapwing
7 Golden Plover
1 House Martin
20 Meadow Pipit
BH Gull 3

I was just about to pack in and go home as the rain was horizontal , when I picked up 2 Terns in the middle of the downpour...They looked all white ?? and quite large ? had to switch to the scope quickly but I had the zoom eyepiece in  and did not pick them up until they were flying low across the big field ...just got them black bills and black heads...2 Sandwich  Terns ,then they were gone off towards Batings lost in the gloom...............

Fly flatts Mipit bonanza

A beautiful morning to be out..........
9.00 - 12.00
Vis mig
Meadow Pipit        550 + s/w
Swallow                     9  s/w
Pied Wagtail               5 s/w
Snipe                          1 s/w
Starling                      3 s/w
Skylark                       1 s/w

Present
Kestrel x 4
Sparrowhawk x 1 female
Peregrine x 1 juv
Buzzard x 1
RL Partridge x 6
Teal x 1
Little Owl x 1


Red Admiral x 4
Small Tortoiseshell x 1
White sp x 1

One of those nights.....

                                                                 Dusk

 Every now and then when you are least expecting a good night , it turns out to be one of the best . With a strong wind ( Storm Helene) gusting 5/6 occasional 7 SW blowing over the dam wall we had to retreat to side of the old Barn with restricted views of the area. A couple of Buzzards and a few Kestrel on the way up was a bonus in the high winds.  Two Raven and a Buzzard were having a scarp over a piece of old rabbit on the far shoreline and a  small raptor chasing Meadow Pipits looked like a Merlin initially  but turned out to be a Sparrowhawk as it landed on one of the fence  posts ,  it carried on over the moor and then low over the reservoir .  As soon as it disappeared a female Merlin appeared over the hill chasing Meadow Pipits it stooped and then up into a hover ?? (is it a Kes) then again a stoop and up into a hover it repeated this another 2 times before heading off over the hill top. A hovering Merlin.!!
 We then picked up the adult male Hen Harrier behind the wood , it was hunting along the far edge , it then rose over the trees low over the reservoir and into the roosting area , it was turning left and right the sun catching it occasionally highlighting the grey and black against the golden / orange moor.
It went for a Meadow Pipit,  its yellow legs hanging below trying to grasp its prey but it missed , it turned and tried again but missed again ,it flew low south twisting and turning in the high wind.  Immediately as it disappeared a large female with sat tag highlighted in the sun was in the roosting area it landed on a fence post and gave some distant views, long enough for Nick to get some distant photos.It flew after a bit of preening and went straight into roost . ...breath...
  A Short - eared Owl and Barn Owl were both seen hunting and 2 Oystercatcher were kicking around the dam wall . The Male  Hen Harrier was seen again behind the wood hunting from right to left then back again. After  a  while the male gained height and was joined by a ringtail , this was soon identified as the larger juv female which has been around for a few weeks now , still fully winged , pale coverts and large white rump make it easy to identify. The male escorted the young female into the roosting area and for the next 20 minutes they danced around the moor close together occasionally landing on the ground together and 2 or 3 times we thought they were going into roost but kept on bouncing out and continuing flying around together.  They eventually  went into roost at 19.20.
 At 19.25 the Merlin returned and started hovering again as we got back to the car it just started to rain !!

Pied Wagtails

1 on the 16th a small very dark individual with very dark grey flanks and dark  grey face.
6 on the 18th including 4 with bright yellow face and 2 adult Pied.
1 on the 19th another dark individual probable juv female .
2 on the 23rd Adult summer male and adult winter male

Raven ,

                                                               Local Buzzard


Looking out of the window I could see the local Buzzards  in combat , got the bins on them and its
 was a Raven and Buzzard having a good old tussle in the sky. A flock of 29 Canada geese flew east and 30 Goldfinch
 Up on the hills the wind was blowing a strong westerly. SEO , Merlin and a juv male Hen Harrier.

TWITE

Well its been a long time and my first this year in Calderdale but , I stumbled across 5 Twite today on the way back from Fly Flatts , just after the Old Withens pub a small bird flew off the road and into the nearby field it looked like a chat and I was thinking its gonna be a Stonechat , but i could not relocate it in the strong gusty winds, but I did flush 5 small birds that landed on the fence 5 Twite ..its been a few years since I have seen them up there......Up at  Fly there were 24 Mallard , 11 Teal, 3 Kestrel , 2 Buzzards and 1 Pintail....

Pintail .......................

A look round Fly this morning had 2 Raven 5 Meadow Pipit ,  2 Wheatear , 5 Kestrel , 2 LBBgull , 9 Teal and a Pintail (found by DJS yesterday). In the evening on the hills 1 female Merlin , 3 SEO , 1 Common Sandpiper , 2 Reed Bunting , 4 Kestrel and a beautiful male Hen Harrier and a juv female Hen Harrier, few Buzzards and Swallows...
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Calm again on the hills

A great still evening with the first birds seen 2 Ravens having a tussle with a Peregrine. Then  the first of many SEO's and a distant Marsh Harrier. 4 Goosander , Oystercatcher with a nearly fully grown juvenile. Then a Barn Owl started hunting on the hillside this bird must have been a juv as it could not catch a thing after many goes. Swallows  were on the move s/w all evening and a flock of 80+ Meadow Pipits were on the wires.A small group of Wagtails landed on the dam wall 2 Grey , 4 Juv Pied and a stonking adult White. 5 SEO and  2 Barn Owls were now hunting around the reservoir and were joined by a Juv LEO. As the light was fading a female Merlin was seen hunting the Meadow Pipit flock.............................

FLY

Distant Ruff and Teal , Kestrel  and Vapourer at fly today....(16 Teal , 3 Wheatear ,4 Kestrel)

Calm on the moors

(Photo Sarah Hanson many thanks)

A calm and still evening today produced 7/8 kestrel , 8 SEO's , 3 LEO 's , 3 Barn Owls , 2 Buzzards and 2 Hens ( one with sat tag and 1 juv female) 1 male Sparrowhawk and a few Oyck's and Curlew.

On the pic above you can just make out the sat tag....

Cricket pitch

Had my first 3 Juv pied Wags this morning one with bright yellow face and smoky grey flanks , other 2 were grey juvs . 55 Starlings ,  4 Goldfinch and 35 Swallows , some of the Swallows were sitting on the grass.............1  juv Dunnock also

Hills alive with Owls

What a night to be out , as I got out of the car I could hear Raven and I could see a group of birds over New Laith pasture  on closer inspection , 1 Juv peregrine , 2 Buzzards and 2 Raven were all up in the air together.
   A SEO was seen briefly on the track to the south. What a night , 3 Barn Owls , 6 SEO's and 2 LEO's( i ad +i juv) all hunting on the same hillside giving excellent views for long periods.One juv female Hen Harrier , Kestrels and Curlews added to a memorable evening..........is was good to note that in the fading light , Barn Owls look very white , LEO's look Dark and rounded and SEO look pale..............

Young Tawny Owl

Young Tawny Owl in the Craggs last night.................

Little Egret

A bit of luck at last with yesterdays Common Scoter and  a flock of waders at Fly Flatts today (9 Ringed Plover , 10 Dunlin and 2 Curlew) . A Little Egret flew along Shibden Valley today , it was always at a difficult angle so I could not get the shape at all until at the last moment it turned so I could see it.

Common Scoter

One adult male Common Scoter on Booth Wood Reservoir today in thick fog and drizzle. A fine adult Stoat and Common Sandpiper yesterday ,   in thick mist and drizzle, last night a new Calderdale moth species ...Pale Prominent(above , pic CS) , ....

Painted lady makes 23

Went to hebden for the HH day and took in the bit of waste ground at Mythom. First butterfly was this Painted lady my 23rd species in Calderdale this year...............................What a year its been.....................

Nice............

Owls

Had a drive about yesterday evening looking for Owls.started with Little Owl  sat on the top of a wall minding it's own business. Soon after  this I watched 5 SEOwls hunting 3 juvs and 2 adults , One of the adults caught a vole and gave it to one of the hungry juvs sat on a wall. One of the juv's had a pure white tail which made it easy to pick out .Then onto a local abandoned mill to watch 2 Barn Owls hunting in the failing light, a Tawny owl was calling from a nearby wood and was also seen hunting as the light failed..................

Buzzards.....

                                                             Typical in flight profile

In 1998 20 years ago there were less than 10 sightings in a year in the whole of Calderdale in 1991 there were only 3 records . This week so far I have seen  4 Northowram , 4 Shibden Valley , 3 Fly Flatts (wind farm side)  , 4 Castle Carr  and  3 at top west side of fly , 2 over Cromwell and 2  over the motorway at Hearsthead...............

More SEOwls

Fly Flatts

Had a couple of hours up there the last few days,  1 Green Sandpiper , 1 Ringed Plover , 2 SEOwl , 2 Dunlin , 11 Teal , 10 Lapwing , 2 Grey Patridge , 2 Barnies, 2 Raven , 2 Buzzards , 2 Wheatear  and a few Gulls.Two Wall Brown near Cold Edge Quarries . Holly Blue and Small Copper

in the garden at Northowram today.

2nd juv Buzzard takes to the air..........

This morning there were 4 Buzzards in the air all mewing together and dive bombing the local jackdaws ,  this is the 4th year in a row they had bred successfully , There  is a build up of Goldfinch with a small flock of 20 + being seen most days. The local Kestrel has also one young flying .Lots of gulls on the move mainly LBBGulls and Black headed , but the odd Herring Gull as well.

First juv Buzzards takes to the air andf Fly...................

Had a look at fly flatts today , 9 Kestrels , 8 Sand Martin , 50 Swallows and 50 Swifts , Lapwing , LBBGulls and Tufted Duck with 4 Juvs , 2 Teal .....First Juv Buzzards flying today at Northowram

Juv Oyck

11 Raven was a great sight today along with 25 + Kestrels , 4 Buzzards , 2 SEO , 1 Marsh Harrier , 1 female Sparrowhawk with very tatty tail , a flock of finches contained 2 greenfinch , 6 Chaffinch , 5 Goldfinch  and 4 Siskin , Song Thrush 1 , Mistle Thrush 3 the bird of the day was a fat juv Oystercatcher....great to see....

OGDEN

Had a quick look today , 1 Common Sandpiper , 1 Curlew , 1 Tufted Duck , 2 Teal , 1 Cormorant , Mallards with 2 very young chicks and 2 Grey Wags.

Back to the Hills 2

Its the first time that I have seen at 19.55.... 1 LEO , 1 SEO and one juv LEO hunting in the same field.!! Also between the showers 3 male Siskin , 1 Great spotted Woodpecker , pair of Teal with 3 juvs , 10 Curlew, 1 Buzzard , 8 kestrel and 5 more SEO and 1 LEO which nearly took my head off , must be another breeding pair as is was 'Barking mad' ........A single Whimbrel was calling on the north bank it was seen briefly ,I was going to have a closer look when i got round the other side but got side tracked with all the owl activity .........9 Kestrel together was a rare sight these days.

More butterflys

Today i had my first Gatekeeper of the year (18th  species on my local walk) , 4 Holly Blue , 5 Small Copper , 1 Comma and loads of Meadow Brown , Large and Small Whites

Back to the hills

Marsh harrier looked like a cream crown drifted high west , could be the same  one as Bri had at Fly yesterday ..Pics Not in the same league as Bris. Other birds in the area two pairs of  Tufted Duck  one with 5 chicks  and one with 2 chicks . At least 19 kestrels,  5 SEO ,  3  LEO , 2 Buzzards , loads of Golden Plover , Lapwing , Oystercatcher , Curlew , Common Sandpiper , 100 + Swallows , 11 Pied Wagtail , 1 juv Ringed plover  and a few Swifts.

Butterflys

                                                  Holly Blue

                                                      Small Skipper

                                                       Purple Hairstreak

                                                                  Comma
Its been a fantastic year so far with 17 species seen in and around Hedge top lane and Only house Wood. Purple Hairstreaks , Holly Blue , Orange tip.large and Small Skipper , Small , Large and Green veined White , Comma , Peacock , Red Admiral , Meadow Brown , Small Heath , Ringlet , Speckled Wood , Small Copper and Small Tortoiseshell......

Brian's Gull field

Finally got chance to go and have a look at some gulls today at the Raggalds
Herring Gull x 2
Common Gull x 1
Black headed Gull x 7 + 1 juv
LBBgull x 6
Lapwing x 14