A right good doooo....

A poor start to the day as it rained till 11ish but as soon as it cleared I was out.66 BH , 3 Common  and 1 LBBGull on the cricket pitch. I was on the look out for the Goldfinch flock after Dishfish  had found some Siskin (good local find )  at Soil Hill yesterday, bit of a bogey bird for me in Northowram , I have had a few but I should have had more.??
   As I jumped over the fence a bird flushed into the large nettle patch..looked interesting but when I got to the patch 5  Goldfinch flushed from the same spot. Damm Golfinch( not Siskin) and only 5 of um.
   I headed down the fields to the area which is good for migrants and a male Whinchat and juv female Whitethroat made me feel a lot better. At this point the bird in the nettle patch got the better of me so I headed back for another look , after a couple of minutes a cracking Sedge Warbler showed its self.(very pleased I went back)..
  Did a whole circuit  of all the fields looking for the Goldfinch flock but only managed 2 more Goldfinch .
 At 6 .30 I headed out again the Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat were in the same spot , but little else of note. As I went to leave a flock of finches was picked up heading my way. At least 30 Siskin with 2 cracking males and about 10 Goldfinch mixed in with them...A good day and thanks to Dishfish

Whinchats

A slow week until today , 16 pied Wags on the Cricket pitch , 150 Goldfinch in the fields , House Martin and Sand Martin south and 2 cracking Whinchat on the fences at the bottom of the fields....1 1 willow warbler , 1 LBBgull and 25 BH Gulls in the horse fields ...

Old News

From around the first week of August , I had 2 juv Buzzards mewing in Northowram and 1 Barn owl was seen briefly near the wind farm at dusk.

France One

A stop over near Portsmouth was very productive with a flyover Great White Egret , 30 Little egret a Cetti's Warbler and a bonus Essex Skipper,( UK Butterfly species 53).A Bonxie on the flat sea and little else on the way over to France....

 Brown Hairstreak

 Glanville Fritillary

Swallowtail

On the move 2

First morning out for a while produced ,12 Goldfinch , 10 Linnet , 1 Sand Martin , 20 Swallow,  10 Pied Wags , 10 Willow Warbler , 2 Whitethroat and a Blackcap..............

On the Move...Lesser Whitethroat

The first real day with an autumn vis feel to it , saw 9 Pied Wagtail on the cricket pitch 2 of which were jet black juvs.A large flock of Blue and great tits moving along the tree line also contained 2 juv Bullfinch , 4 Greenfinch, 2 juv great spots and a family of 4 Blackbirds. One Chiffchaff and a superb Lesser Whitethroat made for a good start to the autumn migration....

Fly and Northowram

Quick look up at fly flats ,1 Cormorant , 10 mallard . 3 /4 juv Wheatear , 1 Barnacle Goose , 25 Swifts ,3 Kestrel 6 LBBGulls , 2 BHGulls , 1 male Merlin shot through 2 Short eared Owls hunting right by the roadside...At home a new Little Owl site was a nice find , 1 Forest Shieldbug , 3 Willow Warblers , 4 House Martin , 24 Swallows and good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell...

Hummingbird Hawkmoth etc...

First Hummingbird hawkmoth for a few years yesterday , it was feeding of red valerian about 4 doors down. 40 Small Tortoiseshell , 10 Ringlets , 20 Meadow Brown , 1 Red Admiral , 1 large White and my first 2 Gatekeepers of the year. Also today a very tatty Buzzard low over the cricket pitch , hope to see some young soon.??

Ringstone

90 lapwing, 7 Golden Plover , 3 Tufted Duck , 3 GCGrebe ,5 Common , 6 LBB ,  35 BH Gulls , 1 Kestrel, 1 Common Sand and a couple of Twite by the hide.


Northowram

1 Juv Willow  and 7 juv chiff , been a good year for Greenfinch and a Carrion Crow with a half eaten Rat in its beak at home this morning..

Slowly does it......................

Not much about this last week, plenty Swifts and LBBgulls on the move  .small flocks of BHGulls heading west. The first moving Willow Warblers this week and a family party of Great Spots have been kicking around .Bird of the week goes to a Woodcock which flew in front of the car last night about 10.15....

Ringstone..Med Gulls

Had to go to Manchester to see an old mate ,so decided to have a look at Ringstone on the way, as I was driving up there a flock of small gulls flew over the road , (im sure that was a Med gull or 2 )as I was driving I was not too sure ,so after about 10 mins of looking through the gull a cracking adult Med Gull in full summer plumage showed its self. 4 Cormorants , 3 Great Crested Grebe , 2 Common Sands , 30/40 lapwing and then another full summer plumaged Med gull landed next to the first one...my luck was well in....About 15 minutes later I picked another adult up flying across the fields not in full summer plumage but still a cracking bird..3 med Gulls in a day ..July....   carn't beat it for Med Gulls
...Yellow Legged next

Uk Butterflies

Managed to add a couple of British butterflies recently the very rare Black Hairstreak at the famous Glapthorn Cow Pasture and Wood White at Salcey Wood in Northamptonshrie .There are only a few residents to get over the next couple of years..

 Black Hairstreak

Wood White

Fly

Had a quick look at Fly today , greylags with young and the Barny, also lots of Canada Geese. A few Black Headed gulls drifted west.1 Dunlin , 10 + Common Sands , 3 Redshank , Curlew with chick , Golden Plover , 2 Oycks and looks like a good breeding season for Lapwing with at least 25 + around the res...
  

Ringstone

Had a look up there on Friday, 2 Common Sandpiper , 1 Little Ringed Plover ,6 Lapwing , 1 Buzzard , Mallard with six vey small chicks , Reed Bunt , Sand Martin , Swallow , Swift ,1 Curlew on the shoreline , 2 flying around and a flock of 10 flying north. 1 LBBGull and a Cormorant.

Malham Cove and Ghosts

Its been a long time since I have been to Malham Cove but popped up there on Thursday, Peregrine showing well , Redstarts , 1 male with 2 juvs and another pair flycatching , 1 Spotted Fly ,  Wheatear , Grey Wagtail and Dipper juvs and adults.
    Went over to Bradford last night to view a Ghost Moth ' Lek ' in one of the town centre parks, the council have left large areas of the park wild and so the grass can grow tall......over 1000 male  Ghost moths seen ...now that is a sight......amazing

Cricket Pitch

Been very busy on the Cricket pitch this week with hoards of Juv Starlings and plenty of House Sparrows collecting food and nesting material. Linnets , Greenfinch and Chaffinch have been busy as have a family of Pied Wagtails .Swifts and Swallows were both feeding low to the ground on Sat morning. Wont be long till the first BH Gulls are back and the odd Mipit . Queensbury pitch had plenty Skylarks and Meadow Pipits on Thursday evening.....

its been a good year locally ...so far

It started off with Tree Sparrows in the back garden then  a Jack Snipe at Fly not a rare bird but always good to find one locally. Then we had the amazing Whooper Swan day. Shortly followed by a male Ring Ouzel and the trip of Dotterel in Todmorden . Buzzards almost daily from the house and  not to mention record numbers of Cuckoo.
    This week I had 2 pairs of breeding Wheatear and amazingly I found 2 pairs of LRP with 7 young on the same piece of ground (upland site)..
 Ochreous Pug new to Calderdale at the crags and Larch Pug only the second site in Calderdale  , Devon Carpet the only record in Yorkshire for 3 years and record numbers of Oak Beauty. An Oak tree pug in the back garden trap was a real treat.............

Ramsden Clough area.

Few pairs of Curlew, Lapwing and plenty of Reed Buntings, 3 juv Stonechats ,loads of Orange Tip and Green veined White Butterflys .Then to my amazement Male and female Wheatear with 2 juv  on the 8th of June they were free flying and catching bugs, also  about 1/2 mile away another  more agitated male Wheatear ,indicating another nest close by.
   I also found an old Raven nest on top of an old house on the moor.....

Ringstone ...2

45 Lapwing , 1 Common Sandpiper , 1 Little Ringed Plover , 3 Oystercatcher ,2 Grey Heron ,4 Great Crested Grebe , 2 Sand Martin , 5 Swift , 10 Swallow and a couple of reed Bunts. The Sand Martin colony near Greetland stone quarry seems to be in full swing with 10 birds seen collecting mud from a field nearby.

Ringstone

A quick look at Ringstone today produced 3 Great Crested grebes 2 doing full courtship display, 35 Lapwing , Willow Warbler , 2 Oystercatcher , Reed bunting , Grey Partridge , 1 Sand martin , 7 Swift , 10 Swallows , 13 LBBgulls  and plenty Mipits.

Gales hit for the start to June....

Plenty Swifts on the move the last few days and Buzzards, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk have been seen out hunting despite the gales. Plenty of Nuthatch at Hardcastle Craggs but no Wood Warbler , Pied Flys or Redstarts. Found a small but healthy population of Lapwing the on Sat morning with at least 15 pairs with 5 Juvs seen. Good news these days also a small flock of Golden plover foraging nearby.
 Butterflies seen the first 2 days of June = 0 very depressing

Buzzards and more Whitethroats

I have now managed to find 3 pairs of Whiethroat around the fields in Northowram and sightings of Buzzard are now daily with 2 in the front field on Saturday giving excellent views of this once rare bird in Calderdale. Its great to see them on such a regular basis (reminds me of being on holiday).in another 5 years if they are left alone they will be in every bit of woodland.!!

Warblers (singing males) at Elland Gravel Pits 22 April and 22 May 2015

Same walk route which takes about 2 hours....
22nd May


Chiffchaff     11
Blackcap       13
Garden Warbler    8
Willow Warbler    6
Reed warbler        4
Whitethroat          5


Total                  47


22nd April


Chiffchaff        16
Blackcap          13
Garden Warbler  1
Willow Warbler   12
Reed Warbler        1
Whitethroat           1


Total                   44

Northowram today

All the local summer visitors are back in place , today 2 Blackcap , 2 Willow Warblers , 3 Chiffchaff and 1 Whitethroat singing this morning. Plenty of Linnets , Swallows and the odd House Martin.
2 Sand Martins and 50 + Swifts heading north around lunchtime. Buzzards are now seen almost daily which is great news...

Wainstalls

Had a walk from Wainstalls to Mount Tabor , 7 Wheatear , good numbers of singing Skylarks, plenty linnets feeding on dandilions and collecting nesting material a Buzzard over and 8 Swifts north.
  Managed to see the  'Mixenden White Crow ' at Shaking House farm and was treated to the call of a Pied Flycatcher in the brilliant sunshine in a nearby valley. Plenty more Swift heading north over Luddenden village and Skylarks singing at Mount Tabor must be in double figures. Amazed to find a couple of pairs of Lapwing at Ogden and also one at Mount Tabor.

Mixenden Reservoir

A quick walk before the rain this morning produced, 1 Swift , 2 House Martin ,15 Swallow and 5 Sand Martin on the res in nearby fields a Wheatear sat on the ground looking exhausted and a Willow Warbler nest building was as good as it got.....

Tripin ........

Well its been a long time in coming but on the 28th April , I came across a ' trip ' of Dotterel there were 7 ,( 5 females and 2 males ). It also turned into a bit of a twitch with no Dotterel at the top of Pendle Hill . It was one of those awkward moments........ I had found 7 Dotterel,''''' I put the news out and then just I had.... they flew off, It took an hour to relocate them and by this time there were a few people looking......Luckily I found them two fields from the original spot.(phewww)
   Not much else this week except lapwing and Whitethroat on Soil Hill and a couple of Bullfinch and a Goldcrest on my local walk.

Weekly Round - up

Ring Ouzel 1 male and 8 Twite at Pike End Rishworth
Cuckoo and 2 Whinchat at Gorpley
Blackcap, Whitethroat , LRP , Reed and garden Warbler EGP
Common Sand and Redshank at Fly Flatts
2 Buzzards seen again at Northowram

Tuesday

Another Swallow first thing over the house followed by a heron and a few Mipits. " 2 very dark backed LBBgulls were thought to be 'intermedius' , 2 Kestrel, 1 Buzzard and Sprwk scarping high up . 5 Linnets today and 80 Woodpigeons in the fields is all I come muster in the strong winds

First Swallow

Had the first Northowram Swallow today , it flew low over the fields towards Queensbury .It was the same date as last year.....Upto 4 Linnets have been kicking around and a few Mipits and Pied Wags  have been  heading north. 5 LBBGulls went north , 1 Common Gull east and a GBBGull west  over the weekend.