Soil Hill. p.m. visit

  Perseverance Road entrance

           Over the stone circle to Withins.

Just to prove the formula, SUN + BLUE SKY = NO BIRDS, correct  I trudged up Soil Hill with a low expectancy late afternoon and found no birds, or hardly.
A few Meadow Pipits were present along with 3 Skylark and that was it other than a couple of corvids.
Scanning a full 360 deg there was,nt a bird in the sky.
Malham Cove stood out in the sunshine but the North Yorkshire white horse was only just visible in the haze.
The reservoir at Oxenhope, BOG members only, was heaving with gulls with plenty shoreline exposed right along the western shore but no time to get there this evening and Saturday teatimes are off due to the sad gunmen.
At least after tonights excursion I feel better about going to work tomorrow, hopefully by next weekend the weather will have broke.
BS

Fly Flatts and vis mig

                                                1 of 3 Wheatear left

                                            Kestrel after the Mipits

                   Just 2 adults and 1 juv left

                          A well hidden Kestrel

                       Kestrels enjoying the fall of Mipits

           New sign ,now at the north end also

            Shoreline receding but no waders

                                                        Kes

The first serious signs of Meadow Pipit movement this a.m. over Foxhill with 148 >SW between 0545 and 0700 hrs along with Skylarks and Swallows.
By 0700hrs the sun had raised its ugly head bringing blue skies and a stop to the movement.

Fly Flatts was bright and sunny with a moderate NW>5 with Kestrels, Meadow Pipits and Wheatears dominating the scene.
A few Swallows headed >SW with no signs of any type of waterfowl or waders present.
Only 2ad and 1 juv Wheatear remained whilst the whole area was awash with blogging Meadow Pipits which in turn brought out the Kestrels with 6 present.
The Kestrels were mainly harassed  with the Mipits but I witnessed two Mipits being taken out with the Kestrels.
A hugging of Nyjer seed meant for Twite was soon set upon with the Mipits.

Foxhill Vis Mig

148 Meadow Pipit......................... >SW
5 Skylark................................... >W
23 Swallow..............................>SW
BS

Ogden pm visit.

                   1 of 2 Common Sandpipers

                          f Tufted diving and feeding well

            oops, not quick enough on the button that time

                         Most Black Headeds lost hood now

                            1 of 2 Gt Crested Grebe

                 Gone down for a fish supper

Hard work at Ogden with the strong W>5 whipping up the water and the glare of the sun on the waves made visibility difficult.
The long staying 2 Gt Crested Grebes were present with the adult catching fish well. The female Tufted was also on the water as well as 1 Cormorant and several BH and Common gulls.
A bit of movement from behind a stone on the distant  shoreline caught my eye and after a bit of patiently waiting, not one of my best features, a Common Sandpiper appeared. This bird walked the length of the eastern shoreline where another Common Sandpiper was present on the sandy area in the NE corner.
A Little Grebe, or dare I say Dabchick was over in the NW corner, then when I got back to the duck feeding area another , or the same, Little Grebe was near the SW corner but no time to go and investigate further.
Tons of Swallows feeding high overhead along with a few House Martins.
BS

Queensbury Today

A blustery dark start to the day as I checked out Queensbury South on route to work.
A few Mipits went overhead >W at the trailer park field along with 9 Alba Wagtails also west.
15 Lapwing were in the horse field near the farm along with around 60 Starling and a few Jackdaws.
Several small gulls, mostly Black Headeds, were in fields along Corporal Lane whilst a few Linnets were on the wires.
No sign of the Little Owls but probably disturbed by farmer activity.
A flock of around 40 Goldfinch were in the horse field on Green Lane with another 7 Pied Wagtails on the deck.
Midday in Foxhill park found yet more Pied Wagtails with 6 on the top pitch and several newly arrived Robins in bushes around the edge of the field.
Right on cue today was the arrival of a Little Grebe at Ogden reported by NK, see his blog for full report.
Hope this weekend is kind to any birders out there.
BS

Vis Mig fogged off a.m./ Old Guy Rd, Thornton Rd, Harp Lane.

              Looking >E over the station from Thornton Rd

                         Triangular station

                      An overgrown Harp Lane

We was enveloped in fog up here in the gods this morning so no vis mig but a check of the cricket field found a record number of 15 Pied Wagtails, mainly juvs.  Also present were around 30 Meadow Pipits, 2 Wheatear , 4 Common gulls and c40 Starling.

A 15 minute watch from Thornton Rd east over the station looking as far as Otley Chevin produced several Swallows and House Martins all >W along with 3 Skylarks.
LBB gulls were moving >N up the Aire valley and a distant Cormorant headed >NW.

A dog walk down Harp Lane this evening found 8 Blue tits, 1 Coal Tit and a single Willow Warbler.

My prediction for Little Egret at Ogden nearly came off this morning when Steve Loveric saw 3 come into Ringstone but were soon moved on by gulls leaving high and south. Well done to Steve being up there early doors otherwise they would have gone through unnoticed . These were possibly some of the Lindley Wood reservoir birds making their way South.
BS

Queensbury West

                                  Plenty Starlings on the cricket pitch

                                The plantation below Roper Lane

                    Stoodley Pike from Roper  half zoom

                                                    Full zoom

               Goose field between Roper Lane and Bradshaw

                                            Common gulls on the pitch.

                                    Raggalds Flood was bone dry midday

A pre work watch from Roper Lane saw very little signs of vis mig other than a few Mipits and Swallows >SW but the fields and plantation were alive with birds. Small gulls were in every field and the plantation had  flocks of c50 Goldfinch and c30 Linnets in and around it.
A Heron went over high and >E

Old Guy Rd cricket pitch held good numbers of Starling as well as 12 Common gulls, 6 Pied Wagtails and 3 Wheatear.
The surrounding fields were alive with blogging Meadow Pipits.

Whilst having my tea at 1745hrs a flock of c 90 Lapwing came over Foxhill from the north heading >SW so alerted DJS to say they were heading his way. After breaking off his tea to watch they failed to go over his area meaning that they must have gone down in fields around the Cold Edge area as even if they changed direction Dave would have seen them at that height, sorry about the tea Dave.

Thanks to NK who went over to Ogden this p.m. to check out a possible Ringed/ Little Ringed Plover sighting there this morning, Calder grapevine, but nothing to be found, thanks for the effort Nigel, that would have been a cracking record for Ogden.
BS

Some September birds to watch out for

                      7 Little Grebe turned up at Ogden Sept 2013

             Soil Hill played host to a Short Eared Owl Sept 2012

   Ogdens Yellow Browed Warbler Sept 2012

         1 of 2 Turnstones at Fly Flatts Sept 2013.

With August almost gone and September upon us above are just some of the interesting birds that have turned up in previous Septembers.
There is still a chance of waders although August was the peak month and with the weather conditions being as they have been the birds have continued on and passed us by.
Anything can happen during September so check out all the tit flocks , thrushes and wildfowl as the winter birds will soon be around.
Mid month is the time to watch the skies for skeins of Pink Footed geese overhead and if you,re into visible migration now,s the time to start counting.

A pre work check on Roper Lane/ Old Guy Rd found very little in the mist and no sign of geese in the lower fields.
2 Wheatear were on the cricket pitch along with 4 Pied Wagtails and around 40 Starlings.

A report today from NK that the Raggalds Flood is beginning to hold water at last.
BS

Soggy Oggy

                                  A murky grey Ogden

                                        Just below the cloud base

  Out in the middle. 2 Gt Crested Grebe 1f Tufted

                                        Heron down in the overflow

          The last remaining Cormorant.

                                        Posing for the camera

Two things I love about Bank Holidays are , an extra day off work, and the guarantee of the kind of birding weather that I like.
Queensbury late afternoon was in thick fog but Ogden was just below the cloud base apart from the tree tops with a heavy drizzle and slight ESE>3, ideal, bring em down, weather.
As suspected from yesterdays Cormorant move, viewed from Soil Hill, all but 1 Cormorant had moved on, including all those from Leeshaw from this mornings visit.
Several Swallows were moving over the water >SW whilst the 2 Gt Crested Grebes and single female Tufted were heads down in the middle of the water,,
A Common Sandpiper called as it flew across the NE corner but was lost in the mist so uncertain as to whether it landed or carried on >NE.
Otherwise it was down to Mallards, small gulls and the usual sp.
BS