Shibden Top, + Ogden gull check

            Fierce looking storm clouds heading for Queensbury

                                    LBB numbers increasing at Ogden

 At the request of DJS 3 not very good GBB gulls pics Fly Flatts Feb 2012. not adult though.

A day of sunshine and torrential showers with a bit of thunder and lightening thrown in.
1700hrs -
Shibden Top/ Green Lane had a good number of Swifts moving over >W , probably a feeding party working around the showers. Otherwise quiet apart from the usual Linnets and Corvids.
1800hrs-
Arrived at Ogden the same time as the torrential rain but managed 30 minutes looking between showers.
The weather didnt really matter as it was gulls I was looking for hoping for an early Yellow Legged Herring gull but not to be.  LBB numbers are rising with 15 present tonight, 3 on the water and the rest soaring high above before drifting off >S.
The water was otherwise void of birds apart from the now resident Canadas and a low count of Mallard whilst a single Heron stalked the west bank.
BS

Green Lane/ Corporal Hill

            Adult female Pied Wagtail.  Photo courtesy Brittany Collier.

A flying visit around Corporal Lane, Corporal Hill and Green Lane this evening produced :-
7 Linnet
5 Goldfinch
2 Swift
11 Swallow
1 Kestrel
28 Woodpigeon
Several Corvids.
Nice to meet Tracy at last scouting around the area along with her daughter Brittany who kindly sent me the above photo saving the blog from being photo less tonight.
Brittany also nearly got me a Kestrel photo but the bird was camera shy and even with her stood out through the sun roof she missed it,I think it was Tracys fault for not getting the roof open quick enough.
Thanks for that and keep them coming.
Also nice to meet Ken Jarvis for the first time today when he brought his car into the garage.
Its good to be able to put a face to the names you get to know so well.
A day of sunshine and showers today in Queensbury, the heaviest being whilst dog walking at mid day, nothing new there then.
BS

Changing weather over Foxhill

                                  Dark skies before the thunderstorm

                                                Thick fog midday

                                            A bright sunny evening

A real mish mash of weather today with a heavy downpour and thunder, thick fog over lunchtime and a warm sunny evening.
A few LBB gulls were moving over >SE during the rain shower and several Swifts were feeding early evening when the sun was up getting the flies moving.
Better get watching the scrapes on Soil Hill now as word was put out today of Green Sandpipers coming through, ( Calderbirds grapevine ) and with July nearly upon us waders will be ready to move and hopefully stop off at our area.
Its also time to double check those gulls as July is a good month for Yellow Legged Herring gull.
BS

Green Lane, Shibden Top

                                                    The Jackdaw roosting wall

                                   Across Shibden, Ringby on the horizon

A quick look on Green Lane tonight produced
2 Grey Partridge
11 Linnet
8 Goldfinch
c 60 Swift.........................>W
150+ Jackdaws around the roost
2 Lapwing
+ usual corvids.
The top of Shibden valley had the usual Linnets, Blackbirds, Kestrel with Willow Warblers singing down in the trees.
This was a common area for Green Woodpecker but as other areas they are now noticeable by their absence.
Shibden Valley is a well neglected birding area now, possibly because most of us birders are getting older and the hillsides that we were brought up birding on, which we used to rush up and down almost daily, are now more like climbing everest.
We used to know every tree down there and where every bird was but now its vastly overgrown and most of the paths have gone which is good for the wildlife but a hard area to work.
BS

Causeway Foot Col , Views

                        Looking south from the watchpoint towards Saddleworth Moor

                                   SW over Mixenden reservoir

                                    North over Thornton Moor reservoir

West over Ogden

                             A lovely sharp photo of a Little Owl from Tracy.

A hot sunny day till late afternoon when the clouds closed in bringing an evening of mist and drizzle.
A quiet day over the village with just a few LBB gulls heading >SE
Thanks to Tracy for the Little Owl Photo.
BS

Oats Royd Canadas

                                              3 Healthy goslings

                                   The Mallard formation team

                                           Song Thrush

The above photos were taken and kindly sent in by Ken Jarvis all at Oats Royd.
The Canada goose pair that had their first nest trashed rebuilt in a more secluded area and successfully bred the three goslings on the photo with a Greylag getting in on the pic.
The Mallard chicks make an amusing photo swimming off in formation and a nice shot of a Song Thrush.
Thanks for the info and photos for us to share Ken.

More good news today with a juv Little Owl being found with one of the Queensbury pair.
Also a late report from a reliable source who I bumped into telling me of 5 Shoveler and 4 Teal on the Raggalds flood mid spring.
Plenty Swifts in the sky this evening.
BS

Ned Hill Watchpoint p.m.

                                Whitethroat busy feeding young.

Ned Hill Watchpoint  1530- 1730hrs  Bright blue skies, perfect visibility. Strong W>5-6
Two hours sky watching proved fruitful with always something to watch.
A check of the Whitethroat first to find breeding proved as it carried grubs and moths into the nest.
Swallows and swifts were the birds of the watch as they piled through >W into the wind. Gulls were quiet but Jackdaws and Lapwings were coming through the col.

2 Whitethroat
226 Swallow.............................>W
191 Swift..................................>W
3 LBB gull................................>W
4 Lapwing................................>W
71 Jackdaw.............................>SW
BS

Ogden

                                          1 of 2 Sparrowhawk over the water

                     This Heron landed in the back of the pine tree

                                 Several Swifts >NW

Fly Flatts had to be abandoned due to thick fog as was Queensbury when I set off so it was back down to Ogden where it was clear with early drizzle and light rain improving as the morning went on.
Just a quick glimpse of a Tree Pipit through the drizzle but no sign of the Crossbill flock.
Two Sparrowhawks were passing over the water regular and several LBB gulls headed >SW but no Terns.

2 Sparrowhawk
1 Heron
8 Swifts >NW
18 LBB gulls >SW
2 singing Blackcaps
4 Willow Warblers
1 Tree Pipit
4 Curlew over >W
+ usual sp.
BS

Ogden/ Soil Hill / Little Owl sites.

An early evening dash round in windy and damp conditions checking Soil Hill for waders, Ogden for Terns and 4 Little Owl sites.
No gulls or Terns for Ogden with the water well over the top plus the Gt Crested Grebes have moved on.
Looking in the wood from the reservoir perimeter path found 6 Treecreepers, 2 Goldcrest 1 f Blackcap and 3 Willow Warblers.
Soil Hill was deserted other than the usual Larks, Mipits Linnets etc. though the scrapes are looking very healthy. Two Kestrels hovered over the Ned Hill track.
Out of 4 known Little Owl sites, 1 held 2 birds. Another held 1 bird , and the other 2 drew a blank, 1 having no sightings this year.
BS

Rain , Rain and more Rain.

Heavy rain from early morning continuous throughout the day getting even heavier by late afternoon when the wind picked up to a near gale force WSW>6 gusting 7.
I think we can forget any chances of shoreline now for the foreseeable future with the amout of rain down in the last two days, the moorland birds will be getting a real beating in these conditions.
With the hope of a slight break in the cloud early evening I drove around 3 Little Owl sites but the rain continued to pound down leaving me with nothing to report. Surely this can,t go on over the weekend?
BS.

Tracys Little Owls

Two cracking Little Owl photos taken and kindly sent in by Tracy, a pair she,s been watching for some time and now managed to snap.
This south Queensbury pair have been around this area on and off for several years and have just recently started showing well again.  No sign of breeding this or previous years .
Thanks again Tracy.
A morning of heavy rain continuous from 0830hrs until mid afternoon when briefly the skies cleared leaving hot sunshine but this was short lived when the skies became as black as night followed by torrential rain.
BS

Queensbury Today, Rain right on schedule.

                                      Dark clouds over foxhill

            From yesterday. Several of the juv xbills were flying off with cones.

A hot sunny morning till early p.m. then the clouds started to roll in as predicted and by late afternoon the sky was black with rain showers.
No continuation of yesterdays gull movement over the village but had to pick some car parts up in Bradford where several LBBs were over the city centre soaring very high in no particular direction.
A family of Pied Wagtails were around the park at midday with a pair and 2 juvs whilst 2 Stock doves flew over >E.
Not looking good for the water levels with rain forecast for the rest of the week and over the weekend.
BS

Gull passage and Crossbills

                                                 

                                             Plenty juvs

                   Gt Crested Grebes sticking in the middle

                                           Good gull passage all day.

A quick trip to Ogden tonight to see if any gulls were down after a heavy passage all day, mainly LBBs with 3 Herring gulls and 4 Black Headed plus a single Common at midday all >SW, some very high.
Only 4 LBBs were on the water plus the 2 Gt Crested Grebes right in the middle as always so desperate for a photo I reluctantly went up to the Tree Pipit area where of course there was nothing, these Pipits must retire early evening. Luckily one of the dogs, Ollie, found me a Crossbill, or rather they found him. As I was looking and listening for pipits Ollie let out a yelp when a pine cone clouted him in the middle of the back and within minutes cones were coming down like coconuts.
Two crossbills could be seen right at the top of the tree and several others were flying in though very hard to find.  About 18 were in the two trees with several juvs, at least I forgot about the Tree Pipits.
BS