Thick fog this p.m. so the Soil Hill excursion had to be aborted. Instead headed down Halifax to check out the roosts around the Parish church, Sainsburys and Wickes which proved to be an interesting area. It was just after 1500hrs so the light was rapidly starting to fade and birds seemed to be feeding well before the long cold night.
The most active area was the hedges and rowans down between Wickes and Sainsburys where I counted 15 Blackbirds, 9 Mistle Thrush and 2 Song Thrush along with several Robins and Dunnocks. The Blackbirds were going through holes in the hedge to roost deep inside the bushes whilst the thrushes were settling down in the large evergreen tree up the side of Sainsburys wall.
The trees around the church held up to 11 Magpies whilst the steeple itself was used by feral pigeons and Jackdaws.
Sainsburys trees were quiet apart from a few Blackbirds but the trees behind the filling station in the old goods yard held a flock of c 20 Chaffinch but were very mobile so I was unable to see if any Brambling were amongst them. This area is obviously where the Brambling that Ive had in Sainsburys in the past have come from.
A small flock of 6 Siskin were in the large Willow tree in Matalans car park along with a few Blue tits.
5 Pied Wagtails were at the bottom end of the Woolshops but no sign of the usual roost starting.
Large numbers of Jackdaws were settling on wires at the top of Southowram Bank and several small gulls were noisily feeding in the leisure centre car park.
No Waxwings about which was either due to the late hour or the fact that I had my camera with me.
Amazing how so many birds are about in a busy area and people are dashing around christmas shopping without noticing them.
This will go down as a recommended area to watch, especially in the spring when the Warblers turn up.
BS
