Fly Flatts pm visit

                                               5 Siskins behind the Delvers

                                                Poor pics in silhouette conditions.

          Another pot of gold for Queensbury. From Hunter Hill

Fly Flatts early evening was wind blown and cold with nothing on the water although a car was at the boathouse meaning that boats would have been out on the water this afternoon.
A Raven was cronking over the Bumps but keeping out of sight whilst 2 distant Wheatears were down by the Red Legged Partridge pen.
Only 4 Canadas showing on the banking with most now moved on.
A single Blackbird flew over high and >W which must have been a mover.
                                                                 On the way back 5 Siskins flew over the road in front of me and settled in the garden behind the Delvers feeding on an Alder tree along with 2 Chaffinch and around 12 Goldfinch.
An interesting e mail today from Shaun Radcliffe confirming what DJS and me were talking about the other day with several Yellow Browed Warblers arrived on the east coast where Shaun picked one up in church ravine, Filey so I,ll be giving passerine alley ,Ogden, an extra coat of looking at over the coming weeks and then of course its Firecrest time. !
BS

Leeshaw Reservoir.

A night of torrential rain left a grey start to the morning with a cool SW>5 which deteriorated as the watch went on finally aborting at 0900 hrs when the clouds dropped down bringing mist and heavy drizzle off the moor through the valley. Surprisingly it was much brighter as I arrived home with even a hint of sunshine.
Movement was good at the start with Starlings and Lapwings being the dominant birds whilst the water remained quiet.

Vis Mig
120 Starling.....................>NW  low and fast in squadrons of around 12
132 Lapwing...................>W
c160 Lapwing.................blogging
15 Mipits.......................>SW
8 Swallows....................>S
5 Mistle Thrush............>W
1 Song Thrush..............>W
2 Blackbird...................>W

Present.
5 LBB gull
2 Common gull
17 BHG gull
1 Heron
2 Canada geese
1 Greylag goose
+ usual sp.

Old Guy Road cricket pitch
29 Common gull
3 Pied Wagtails
2 Wheatear
Flock of around 60 Linnet.
BS

Qby vis mig + Old Guy Road and Roper Lane watch point.

Just a bit on the windy side this morning with a SW>5 blowing but this did,nt seem to stop the early birds with the best morning so far but slowing down when the clouds rolled in.
A check on Old Guy Road cricket pitch ,now that the season is out of the way , produced 12 Pied Wagtails, 3 Wheatears and 11 Common gulls with more Common gulls in the surrounding fields.
A strong wind blowing at the watch point on Roper Lane with very little in the sky and no sign of the target bird, Pink Footed goose, although sightings are starting to come in now with the first few skeins seen heading >W.

Vis Mig.
Mipit..........................................86>W
Swallow....................................41>S
Alba Wagtail.............................9>W
Mistle Thrush...........................4>W
Herring gull..............................6>W
LBB gull..................................27>NW
Starling....................................1 squadron of 18 in migration mode >NW
12 Pied Wagtails.....................blogging
3 Wheatear..............................blogging
BS

A poor do at Ogden

In contrast to my last visit things were very quiet on the passerine scene with not a bird showing on the eastern side through passerine alley.
As I got to the Alders on the west bank 6 Siskin flew around the tree tops before dropping back down deeper in the wood whilst a flock of around 30 Goldfinch flew across the water dropping into trees at the northern end.
I came across the Chaffinch flock, now about 40 strong, but very mobile between the shore, the Willows and the Pine trees but a scan through them failed to produce anything exotic.
The water held around 30 BHGs, 2 Commons and a LBB along with 3 Cormorant.

Vis Mig
5 Meadow Pipits.................>SW
4 Swallows.........................>S
7 Alba Wagtails..................>W
4 Blackbirds.......................>W
BS

Sentry Hill Watch. p.m. visit.

                                        Drax in the hazy distance

     Looking across to the reservoir hide.

                                       Gulls piling in throughout

             Sacrifice stones on the Nab

                                   1st wind turbine ready for the blades

             Looking across to Leeshaw reservoir

                          Raven (lower) being mobbed by Crows.

             Hundreds of gulls ready to come across to the water.

                                           Soil Hill tree line.

A late afternoon visit to Sentry Hill watch point with hopes of some early Pink Footed geese or even an Osprey, neither of which materialized , found a few decent birds and some breath taking views of the distant landscape.
Gulls were piling into the reservoir with hundreds in a field below waiting to come in to preen on the water before moving off >E towards the Eccup roost.
Several Mipits were blogging in fields and on the moor whilst a few were still moving heading >W over the Nab area along with a good number of Swallows >S.
                                                     A single noisy Raven was heading >N to the east of me getting mobbed along the way by 2 Carrion Crows and a flock of 18 Lapwing flew low over Paul Clough towards Fly Flatts.
3 Wheatears were on local walls whilst a flock of Goldfinch fed on thistle tops.

Vis Mig,
No watch early morning with rain and mist not clearing until 0800 hrs,

Few Meadow Pipits .................>W
Steady flow of Swallows.........>S
18 Lapwing .............................>S  could be locals
1 Raven ..................................>N  could be local bird
Several mipits.........................blogging
3 Wheatear..............................blogging
1 Skylark.................................>W
BS

Elland Gravel Pits

Looking through some old pics. Who remembers E.G.P. in the good old days with Sedge Warblers in every thicket along with Yellow Hammer and Lesser Whitethroat being a common sight, even a Spotted Sandpiper for good measure in May to July 1990.

           Peregrines use to perch on the cooling towers.

BS

Queensbury Visible Migration Today

Good grey skies this morning and a light >SSE led to a slightly better movement but still very slow making me suspect that the big Meadow Pipit movement is not going to happen like the last 3 years where the Mipits have tended to go down the coastal route as apposed to inland. Years ago we used to be counting  over 10,000 a day when they came passed us in swarms but those sort of days seem to have gone now. Hopefully they,ll be a big push next month.
                                                        Common gull numbers are building now with the Foxhill flock at around 45 early morning, which usually increases to around 80 over the winter.
No time to get out birding today with granddaughter duties other than vis migging early morn before work and I was surprised to find it dark at 1900 hrs this evening when I took the dogs out, where have the light nights suddenly gone?

Vis Mig
12 Mipits...............>WSW. Starting to turn direction now and will be heading >S by next month.
3 Skylark.............>W
11 Alba Wagtails..>W
2 Mistle Thrush...>W
1 Song Thrush....>W
37 Lapwing........>E   Could be the Shelf Moor birds.
BS

In amongst the passerines, Ogden

            Still a few Willow Warblers left

                  Siskins enjoying the Alders

    This cracking male refused to show itself

A late afternoon check of the water at Ogden produced nothing other than the usual so it was on to passerine alley to concentrate on the tit flock.
I soon found myself surrounded with birds but very mobile moving from tree to tree and very hard to get on to. Apart from the usual 4 tit species at least 3 Willow Warblers were present along with Goldcrests, Blackcaps, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and up in the Alders were around 15 Siskins busy feeding in amongst the Goldfinch. 2 Redpoll came into view before dropping back into the pines.
A real hectic hour.

Vis Mig
18 Herring gull in V formation......................>E
Small number of Mipits................................>W
8 Swallow....................................................>S
13 Goldfinch...............................................>W
2 Chaffinch.................................................>W
BS

Pintails for Queensbury and Ogden, late afternoon

A good start to the day with a continuation of wildfowl movement when 3 Pintails flew rapidly over the garage this morning >SE closely followed by 5 Herring gulls in the same direction.
Otherwise vis mig was slow with just a few Meadow Pipits and Swallows and the first thrushes of the autumn with 4 Mistles over >W.
A late afternoon visit to Ogden found me soon catching up to the Tit flock on the east bank not far on from the info centre.
A good variety of birds but very mobile rapidly moving along the trees with Long Tailed, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, 3 Willow Warblers. 1 male Blackcap and several Dunnocks.
                                                A group of around 20 birds flew a circuit over the tree tops just giving me time to see 2 Siskin before they dropped back down over passerine alley. A quick dash on only to find that the flock was mainly Goldfinch with 2 Siskins mixed in along with a number of Goldcrests.
At the north side of passerine alley the Chaffinch flock were moving from the waterside trees to the shore feeding on the weeds with around 16 present.
With nothing of interest on the water I cut across to Back Lane with the thought of more Siskin or Crossbill flushing a group of 5 Snipe on the moor minutes after a quick chat with JL. This coincides with 8 flushed on Soil Hill this morning, A.T.
                                                Very quiet up at the plantations with 1 Little Owl and a few Greenfinch and Chaffinch plus one very Ginger rabbit.

P.S. Looking back, D.S. had 9 Pintail over the same route 4/9/13

Vis Mig

3 Pintail...............................>SE
5 Herring gull....................>SE
c30 Mipits.........................>W
c20 Swallows................... >W
4 Mistle Thrush................>W

A few scenes from an autumnal morn at Leeshaw yesterday

            Sun breaking through the mist

                                         Misty water

                                  Down the valley

                                        Banks of fog

                                  Finally clearing off the moor

                                  Reflections on still water

BS

Raptors on the move, Soil Hill watch point.

Another hour up on the Soil Hill watch point this afternoon was much more pleasant than yesterday with a cool W>4 and clouding over from the west leaving blue skies to the east but blanking out that dreaded sun.
Swallows were moving but much less than yesterday and all to the west of me heading south through the col with none actually coming over the summit of the hill.
Meadow Pipits were present with around 20 bloggers and no movers.
Three separate Buzzards headed >S, the first at great distance over Otley Chevin flying past the mast there. The second a little closer flying >S over Shipley in Glen , then a nearer bird just in photographic range over Thornton, again heading >S.
Two seperate Kestrels went through the col high and >S in migration mode.

                  1 of 2 Kestrels through the col

            Buzzard sauntering >S
            Buzzards rarely seem in a hurry.

Vis Mig
1 Common Buzzard..........................>S
2 Buzzard sp.....................................>S
2 Kestrels..........................................>S
c40 Swallow.....................................>S
20 Meadow Pipits............................blogging
8 Lapwing........................................>SE
BS.