Looking back at Fly Flatts 2011

                                                 Wheatear

                                            Oystercatchers

                                                          Dunlin

                                          Sanderling and Ringed Plover

                                     Some of the 19 Ringed Plover

Looking back at 2011 it will always be remembered as the year the water dropped and the waders moved in to Fly Flatts. From April to September the shoreline was producing waders like never before.
Waders seen there were :-
Redshank
Golden Plover
Curlew
Common Sandpiper x 11
Redshank
Snipe
Oystercatcher
Sanderling
Turnstone
Grey Plover x 2
Bar Tailed Godwit x 2
Ringed Plover x 19
Little Ringed Plover
Dunlin
Also the water held :-
Teal
Goldeneye
Shoveler x 2
Wigeon
Plus the usual sightings of  :-
Wheatear
Greenland Wheatear
Twite
Whinchat
Stonechat
plus a Yellow Legged Herring Gull.
Lets hope 2012 produces another summer at Fly Flatts like this one.

A couple of other things of note to me in 2011 were
White Stork low over Halifax 17/4
Raptor move day at Soil Hill with 1 Osprey and a possible Marsh Harrier though the latter I cannot claim
as not enough i.d. on it.   24/4.

Wishing you all a year full of megas in 2012....... HAPPY NEW YEAR.
p.s. Hope 2011 takes this wind ,drizzle and fog with it or my new year list tomorrow will have nothing but garden House Sparrows on it.
BS

Queensbury, bright start, foggy finish

                                 Early morn over the mill

Early morn over the Victoria Hall

                                          Early morn in the village

A bright frosty start to the day with a pleasing sunrise and clear skies but by mid day the skies were grey bringing heavy rain and fog by late afternoon.
Good to hear that the Snow Bunts survived last nights gales with 7 showing on the hill today thanks to reports from NK, DJS and Muxy.
Only thing of interest today was a single Meadow Pipit heading >S over Foxhill park at midday, dont know if this was a very late mover or an over wintering bird on the move.
BS

Queensbury Today

                                           A collage of Snow Bunts.

Sorry about the Snow Bunt pic but Im a bit short of photographic material with this bad weather.
Last night was a real humdinger of a storm and I was suprised to awake this morning and find no damage other than bird feeders and fat balls all over the garden.
My garage and 2 of the neighbours garages had their doors swinging open this morning so either the wind came with a pair of bolt croppers to cut off the padlocks or it was a dirty little scumbag creeping about like a rat in the night looking for something to pinch. Luckily all he got away with was a bit of tackle and a large bag of Boneo dog biscuits from next door, hopefully he,ll choke on them.          
A few big gulls were moving around this morning with about a dozen LBBs heading>SE possibly towards ACs spot but no Herring gulls were present, just a few small gulls going in no particular direction.
BS

Windy weather

I hope those Snow Bunts on Soil Hill have got well down in the long grass tonight or they,ll end up in North Yorkshire with the wind as it is now.
The SW>5 has steadily increased all day and Ive just come back from dog walking in a howling storm force SW>9 and frightening to walk in, hopefully it will blow itself out during the night.
It looks to me as if the Soil Hill Snow Buntings are  due to over winter up there now that they seem settled and spreading out over the entire hill. The Bunts that come and go always stay in tight flocks feeding and moving around together but these long stayers are splitting up and just coming together to roost.
Unless we get a heavy snow to cover all the vegetation they.ll hopefully stay on and possible attract more birds to join them.
BS

Soil Hill roost

Got home from family things by 1500hrs with the light fading fast but went up on the hill anyway again hoping to get the roosting Goldies but again no joy.
As I walked up the track 7 Fieldfare landed on the wall near the mast before flying down into the roadside pine trees presumably to roost. Up on the summit 6 Herring gull came over >SW, another 9 had gone over Ogden this morning which I forgot to add to my post, then DJS had some p.m. so it looks like a bit of a move was on.
As I was watching the gulls disappear  I noticed a Snow Bunting in the clover near to me so I backed away so as not to disturb it on the edge of darkness and apart from that Id probably get lynched if I posted any more pics.
I kept watching the area from a distance when suddenly 6 Bunts lifted up and kept flying a circuit over  the hill and after a few minutes 3 more flew in from the north of the hill and joined them. All 9 then dropped down into the area of the longest grass in the SE corner and all went still, this supposedly being their roost.
BS

Ogden below the cloudbase

                                               The resident Cormorant.

A visit to Fly Flatts was aborted due to dense fog this morning so it was a revisit to Ogden which was just below the cloudbase but was grey with drizzle, at least the wind had dropped.
The whole area was quiet with no signs of yesterdays active passerines and still nothing on the water other than 4 Common gulls and 8 BH gulls. The now resident Cormorant was showing after being absent yesterday and several tits were around the lodge feeders.
Still fog on the top as I passed Soil Hill but KMs car was parked up there, probably hoping for a re enactment of yesterdays ordeal.
Looking a bit sad for me getting out again today with the list of family visiting Ive be told we.re doing and its back to work tomorrow but at least its a short week and another extended weekend.
BS.

Shelf Moor

Shelf Moor, last light this evening  held 400+ pre roost Starlings, 50+ Redwing and 30+ Fieldfare in the hawthorn field. No sign of the part white Blackbird.
BS

An amazing experience on Soil Hill

                                 Beware of this brown job, it can look like a Lap Bunt
                                from a distance, first noticed by DJS.

                                            K.M. just managing to keep his hair on.

Apologies for the done to death Snow Bunt photos but can,t resist them and soon they,ll be gone.
An hour on the hill this afternoon in a WSW>7 gusting 8 near gale force wind but dry.
Hoping for some Goldie photos but the north summit was bear other than 4 Skylarks, so it was back to the Snow Bunts with 5 well spread out birds showing.
After Id got a few snaps Keith Moir appeared and we watched the birds before I started to walk off to leave with Keith going to check the grass area. As I neared the southern edge of the area I stopped dead when I saw 1 Snow Bunt 8ft away from me so I carefully knelt down with the tripod low to take some pictures but as I did so the bird kept coming nearer to me. Keith was by now stood to my right watching this develop as the bird carried on feeding towards me and even though I shut the zoom right down it was too near to focus. We both watched in disbelief as the bird passed me near enough for me to touch it and then along came another 2 which did the same. I felt like David Attenborough knelt there surrounded with Snow Buntings, what an experience with such amazing birds.
BS

Ogden, Boxing Day

                                Christmas puzzle, Spot the Treecreeper.

A brighter, dry morning with a mild WSW>4 but not showing daylight till 0900hrs.
Ogden was very quiet with the water void of birds other than a few small gulls and the usual Mallards who,s winter numbers are much lower this year due to the mild weather.
A few small tit parties were around the edges of the water and 2 Goldcrest and a single Redpoll were present but very fidgety. The Treecreeper was teasing me avoiding the camera by keeping mobile and hidden in the branches meanwhile 4 Siskin flew out of the top of the Alders.

4 Siskin
1 Treecreeper
1 Redpoll
2 Goldcrest
1 Kestrel
1 Sparrowhawk
plus usual sp.
BS

Christmas Party on Soil Hill

At the risk of being a saddo I slipped out an hour on Soil Hill. After a hectic morning of presents and the other daughter getting a suprise proposal of marriage Lynda wanted a bit of time to mull through her presents so Soil Hill bound for me.  Again the weather was dreadful with a howling W>6-7 with heavy rain and drizzle but its Christmas, who cares.
The Snow Buntings were oddly seperated in ones and twos scattered all over the hill and as you can see by the photos they were looking in a wet sorry state. Only 4 could be found ,3 of which were very mobile.
Two Lapwing were on the NW summit along with 9 Goldies which flew before I got within 100 yds of them.
A dozen Linnet were on the grass hill and 6 Fieldfares were in the field near the mast.
All in all, a Merry Christmas.
BS

Bad weather, good birds, good company. Soil Hill

 An early finish at work this a.m. left me 1 hour spare to visit Soil Hill.
On arrival the rain was pouring lashed by a cold SW>5-6, real atrocious conditions, but I wasnt alone, a lonely wet figure was walking towards me. I thought , who else would be mad enough to visit the hill in these conditions and on Christmas eve so that narrowed it down to either DJS or NK and it turned out to be NK.
After a lot of searching and watching several aerial displays from the 6 Snow Buntings we finally caught up to them feeding in the bumps and luckily the weather eased a bit to get the much wanted photos.
WISHING ALL READERS OF WEST YORKSHIRE BIRDING AND ALL BIRDERS AND REPORTERS OF SIGHTINGS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A CRIPPLING GOOD 2012.
Brian.
BS

What a grey day.

A terrible day up on the tops today with heavy rain throughout and a strong >NW 4-5. By dark the sky had cleared and freezing was taking place so hopefully we could get a clear weekend but still the wind to contend with.
I,ve been told birding is off this Sunday for some reason but I,ll be back at it on my 2 days off, Monday and Tuesday to try and top up my annual local list which is about 4 birds down on last years.
Some commoners missing are Woodcock, Brambling, Whooper Swan, Stonechat , SEO and Waxwing.
Also did poor on waders during passage time, oh well, theres always next year.
BS

How the wind blew. Soil Hill

                                  This isnt camera shake, its hill shake

                                                           Nearly missed that one !

Just in case the Soil Hill Snow Buntings leave before the weekend I decided to make a dash for the hill at lunch time. The sun was out and a visit to the garage from NK telling me the birds were about clinched it so after a quick lunch and dog walk I set off up there with 20 minutes spare in which to find the birds and take the photos.
After a fruitless search of all the south and east summit I doubled back up the main track and saw the birds in the trenches to my right but they were very fidgety in the wind and kept moving around.
A quick look at the watch, 5 past 1 and start work at 1.15 with a 5 minute journey back, TIME UP !
A quick few half  hearted shots in a W>7 gusting 8 with it near impossible to stand up, I was moving, the camera was moving and even the hill felt to be moving, the only thing not affected was the birds ?
Ever time I rush up for these birds on limited time they turn up in the last place I look when its too late, next time up I,ll look in the last place first, that,ll fool em.
BS

Shelf Moor conclusion

                                                     Fields full of Starlings

The mystery of the Ring Ouzel/Blackbird was concluded today thanks to contacts through DJS. Steve Loveric was actually able to re locate the bird and identify it as a Blackbird but showing a broad white neckband. I shot down there at dinner time hoping for a photo but the field was empty and with only 10 minutes watch time I had to give up. Will get down over the weekend to try get a photo just out of interest.
Thanks to all birders that gave it a go, especially Steve for sorting it, see Calderbirds for report, and a big thank you to Mr Turner for being sharp eyed and reporting the sighting to me . He seemed suprised that his report was followed up as it was but the outcome could have been totally different and that is how rare birds are found,keep those sightings coming in, apart from owt it keeps us lads on our toes.
Whilst down there today 15 Herring gulls came over in the mist >W which was part of a big gull movement witnessed by AC, Northowram blog.
Also large flocks of Starlings were in the fields along with small gulls, seems like an area to watch for that rare winter thrush.
BS

Foxhill today

                                                Foxhill Common gull

                                                      Local Magpie

                                                    Sunrise back ot mill

A bright start with a red sunrise but deteriorating as the day went on with drizzle and low cloud.
Just the usual resident stuff about today apart from a single Jay over Grimstons field towards the station at midday and a flock of 15 Redwing in the same area feeding in Hawthorns.
Thought Id cracked it on the way back to work when I saw the silhouette of 6 birds feeding in a Rowan tree in the grounds of the Willows medical centre but after a short dash with camera at the ready they turned out to be Starlings and not what I was hoping for, Waxwings. This same tree held a small flock of Waxwings a few years ago, (NK).
BS

Shelf Moor Ring Ouzel ?

A milder but damp foggy morning with rain and drizzle throughout the day.
The only bright thing today was a reliable source customers report of a probable Ring Ouzel in fields at Shelf Moor feeding with winter thrushes. The bird was described as a Blackbird with a white collar/breast band. It could have been a part white Blackbird but to strengthen the sighting another Ring Ouzel was reported in the Manchester area also today.
Thanks to the Calderbirds lads that  went out in search of the bird and thanks to Mr Turner for the sighting, lets hope its there tomorrow when you take the dog.  See also report on Calderbirds for area.
Well done to NK for tackling Soil Hill today in the fog and rain to check on the Snow Bunts, see his report on Queensburybirder.
BS

Fly Flatts/Soil Hill

                                        Road shut off due to ice

                                               Arctic conditions

                                                  Water starting to freeze

                                                          The Nab

An icy cold morning at Fly Flatts with a freezing NNE>5 but bright clear skies after early mist.
The whole area this morning was void of birds both on the water and in the sky apart from 1 Red Grouse and a few Corvids.
On the way back The Delvers field held 9 Chaffinch and 3 Greenfinch as well as Robins and Blackbirds but no sign of Brambling as yet.
Dropped the dogs off at home and a quick shoot back to check Soil Hill but after three quarters of an hour zig zagging the whole summit nothing was found.
Out of time I headed back via the SE corner and the only place I had,nt checked was the grassy area so, thinking there,s no chance of them being there I ventured in and after 3yds 1 Snow Bunt flew up in front of me followed by the other 8. They did a circuit of the hill and came down in the sun somewhere near the mast but time had run out so still no photo, at least we know that they are still there.
Nice to bump into Jim Welford on the hill.
BS

Shopping and birding combined

A mainly bright day in the village with just a few snow showers in the morning but plenty sunshine although heavy freezing all day.
Shopping in Halifax found 3 Pied Wagtails on the library roof, 11 Black Headed gulls around Sainsburys along with 1 Grey Wagtail, about my second this year, and 6 Chaffinch in the Rowans.
Looks like it may be good for a change in the morning but Im not holding my breath.
A customer rang me to say he had been up Soil Hill this morning but no sightings of the Snow Bunts.
BS

Less snow, more ice.

A night of heavy freezing leaving a bright clear day until late afternoon when dark clouds came over bringing some short lived snow showers then back to freezing by dark. Only 5 days now to the shortest day and then we,re on the long but steady road back to lighter nights.
Four early morning geese came over >W making me think Pink Footed but as they came over in part darkness they were seen to be Canadas probably looking for unfrozen water.
A single Heron, probably on the same idea, went over >E.
Plenty male Blackbirds about at the moment but strangely no females, is anyone else finding a shortage of females?
An unconfirmed report through NK of a Lapland Bunting on Soil Hill earlier in the week( B.O.G.) but this was neither reported or put on the groups blog site?
Weekend again so lets see what goodies it turns up other than the dreaded Christmas shopping, or is that just me thats turned into Ebenezer.
BS

Snow Joke in Queensbury

                                                  First light and a shock

                                    A wintery garage

                                            Man the shovel

                                    The joys of living on top of the hill

                                         No gulls in Foxhill park today

                                      View east with no snow on Baildon Moor

A heavy overnight snow storm left us with a decent covering this morning although the temperature was up slightly,4 deg in the garage, so a steady thaw took place all day. By mid afternoon drizzle followed by light rain fell shifting some of the snow and leaving the rest in a sloppy mess, just nice for dropping off the underside of cars and down the back of my neck.
Of course this morning for 2 hours all the roads through Queensbury were gridlocked and it was even on the national news that the Halifax to Bradford roads were at a standstill. We,d be better getting rid of these computerized summer only grit wagons and go back to how it was in the days of Queensbury Urban Council with our own gritters, ploughs and salt pile and ten times more snow, the roads were always kept clear. Even the dustbin men were out shovelling and salting the pavements, those were the days.
Birdwise things were quiet with garden birds frantically feeding ready for a cold night ahead and my seed feeders have had to be filled twice today.
Its strange to me why our local House Sparrows put up with our severe weather in Queensbury when they could fly 15 minutes away to lower greener habitat but I suppose you could say that about people that live up here.
BS.