Evening suprise

20 Whooper Swans flew west this evening along with 3 Stock Doves south and a Great Spotted Woodpecker south.

Just an amazing bird.........................

North,South ,East ,West

Well on Friday Fieldfare and Redwings arrived on Mass with at least 2000 of each along with 200+ pink feet heading west way out by Emily moor mast.
Saturday saw Woodpigs west and Redwings and fieldfare in all directions.
Sunday saw Woodpigs North 500 +,Starlings low north west 1000+ , Jackdaws west 200 + , Goldfinch south 3 small parties,and Redwings going east.????What a mixed bag...

Divers

What a stonker an adult Great Northern Diver today at Ringstone...500+ Fieldfare moving south in two groups with a few redwings mixed in.Lapwings and Golden Plovers in the north field and 20+ goldcrests in the keepers garden.Very pleased with the diver and that now makes my calderdale list not bad for an inland birder.
Red Throated Diver 3
Black throated Diver 4
Great Northern Diver 4
Wont be many Calderdale birders who Can beat that....if any.????

Rain ,Rain and more Rain

Monday morning .....rain...
Redwing 8 s/w
Linnets 14 blogging
Starling 200 + around the village
BHGull 150 +
Common Gull 2
GBBGull 1 Juv/1st winter
LBBGull 11 mostly adult types
Herring Gull 1 juv/1st winter
LTTits,Blue and Great Tit flock aprox 18
4 Greenfinch
robins 2 fighting

A bit of Vis

Before the gale started it was'nt too bad with,Great spot south,43 Mipits s/w ,2 Greenfinch,30 Goldfinch,15 Long t tit, 1 chiffchaff,2 stock dove,2 Kestrels and 5 sightings of sprwhawk,2 pied and 1 Grey wagtail south.3 lBBGull and 40+BHGull west and 1 Grey Heron.....

First Pinks

Had my first pink footed geese over the last couple of days 22 yesterday and 40 today heading west...1 Crossbill flew south calling and 1 great spot the same direction.1 Greenland Wheatear,22 LBBGulls,1 Skylark,120 Linnets 1 Kestrel on soil Hill today...

Jays

Jays seem to be everywhere this week with at least 12 sightings in /over and around the village.2 willow Warblers and 2 chiffs (one singing like it was spring this morning),30 LTTits,2 Grey Herons,2 Grey Wags and the family of sparrowhawks are still around causing chaos.A few LBBgulls west and a steady trickle of Mipits south /west. Loads of Speckled woods about today and single ed Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell..should be good for a few migrant moths this week with perfect weather for them.....????

Morning Vis

A real morning for vis with dark low skies and a small open window to the s/e pity I only had an hour ....
Mipits 175+ s/w
Swallows 150+ s/w
Linnet 17 s/w
Chaffinch 5 s/w
LbbGull 3 s/w
Greenfinch 4 s/w
Pied wagtail 17
Grey Wagtail 2 south
Sparrowhawk 1 female took Blackbird off wall.
Stock Dove 6
Grey Heron 1 west
Golcrest 2

Weekly round up

100 lapwings flew north which must have been the queensbury flock ,3 Bullfinch in the back gaden was a nice supise,a Nuthatch in the wood with 20+ Blue and Great Tits,10 Goldfinch,18 Linnets,8 pied wagtail and a Yellow wagtail south first thing on sunday morning was the best so far this autumn.

Day out in Devon

Cou

nts over the high tide at Dwalish warren included 1500 Oystercatcher, 220 Ringed Plover, 100+ Dunlin, 70 Sanderling, 48 Sandwich and a Common Tern, 25 Knot, 10 Little Egret, six Whimbrel, four Turnstone and three Mediterranean Gull. Two Coal Tit were still present with a Garden Warbler, double figures of Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat, five Wheatear and overhead three Yellow Wagtail. Elsewhere an Arctic Skua was in the estuary this afternoon, 25 Common Scoter were offshore and two juvenile Peregrine were around the site. a flock of 300+ Shag was amazing..............

FLY

A quick walk round fly flatts today produced,1 Peregrine,2 Buzzards,3 Kestrel,1 1st winter male Wheatear,1 Reed Bunting,2 LBBGulls ,5 Mipits and about 70+ Swallows s/w.

Evening suprise

10 Gooseander west was a nice suprise tonight with large numbers of Swallows
starting to gather in the evening and Great Spotted Woodpeckers are starting to be seen on a regular basis.

Young Male Sparrowhawk coming for his tea.

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Weekly round up

66 House Sparrows on the lawn on sat morning broke all records for this species.A couple of Nuthatches in my dads garden at Lightcliffe was nice.Swifts still showing well in the evening at Northowram.Golfinch,Linnets,Mistle Thrush, Common Gulls ,Kestrels and Sparrowhawks the only other birds of note.

Whiteholme

An amazing 55 Small tortoiseshell butterflys along the drain and a Whimbrel was herd calling overhead.A few grouse chicks were flushed and a beautiful male Merlin was seen very well sat on a fence post.1 Common Scoter on the reservoir made enjoyable trip.The mad local crow killer was most amusing..saying its gods will to kill raptors and Crows its in the bible you know .ITS GODs WILL...

Sunday

3 stock doves,88 Jackdaws ,5 greenfinch,3 Goldfinch,1 House Martin ,25 swallows mainly juvs with lots of ariel feeding between adults and juuvs.a new colony of 25 House Sparrows and 3 Sand martins heading N/west
Also this week a very strange sight of a Magpie carrying a dead House sparrow in its beak.???It may have picked it up dead off the road.? the male and female sparrowhawk have been attacking the sparrows all week but I think they are stating with there 3rd brood as I have seen them copulating this week.?

Over the weekend

A real feel of Autumn over the weekend with LBBGulls and BH Gulls on the move east and west.55 House sparrows,3 Stock Doves , 6 goldfinch , 4 pied wagtail ,Sparrowhawk taking Collard Doves in the back garden,plenty of young starlings and Jackdaws about and a Hobby hunting the first gathering Swallows(about 30).Swifts in good numbers and a couple of House Martins.

Queensbury..Littlemoor park

A walk round littlemoor park in queensbury today started well just before the park with 32 Lapwings in the usual place.A colony of Ringlets in the park was a real treat with at least 25 individulas with a few pairs in cop.
A singing garden warbler and plenty of Swifts and swallows around.8 BH Gulls flew over and a juv Great spot and 2 juv Robins made for a good trip to this new area for me...

Ogden

A very nice adult yellow Legged Gull with 15 LBBgulls and 15 BHGulls, 1 Bullfinch ,willow warbler, Goldcrest and cole Tit.

4 Sand martin ,1 House martin,3 Swallows, 10 Swifts,2 BH Gull and 1 LBBGull on the move n/nw this evening

Over the weekend

First LBBGulls on the move west this week,a large flock of 77 woodpigeons in the field and the Stock Doves are definatly breeding nearby.2 sanderling ,12 Ringed plover,1 LrPlover,1 Twite,1 reed Bunting,2 Lapwing,10 Curlew,5 redshank,3 Common sandpiper, 8 Dunlin at Fly Flatts on saturday.Also the first juvenile and mixed flocks of Starlings on the cricket pitches.

Hobby

iwas watching swifts from the garden all weekend heading noth,everytime a dark cloud came over masses of swifts came down with the clouds.last Night at 6.16 a large falcon was seen amongst the swifts at first i thought it was a peregrine but as it turned sideways a Hobby was the only definate bird it could be.I watched it for about 2 minutes following the Swifts along the valley to shiden park ,I reckon this bird was a 2nd summer bird.

Swifts

Masses of swifts heading north all weekend ,also great Black backed Gulls in small parties heading east and west.First Linnets back on breeding grounds this weekend.

WALES

a great trip to wales in glorious spring sunshine produced,Chough,Black guillimot,Little egret 3 ,Puffin,10 species of Butterfly and a good selection of moths,the highlight a flock of 400+Sandwich terns

Wales......

Wales

The Amazing Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)

Buzzards.???

Today at about 2 ish I heard a Buzzard call twice all the corvids were going crazy but I didnt see it,I just got a call fron an experienced birder in Northowram that he was convinced he saw a Honey Buzzard today about 2.15..!! a few mipits and Swallows north today and a Willow warbler calling in the valley.