They,re back. Soil Hill Wheatears

                       First sighting, female Wheatear

                                          Plenty Meadow Pipits holding territory

                                                          1 pair Wheatear

                                          Mostly males present.

        Pair of Teal way down on the NK pond

A last day of the month check on Soil Hill sent me into April in style with at least 6 Wheatear , a female Ring Ouzel briefly and a pair of Teal on the pond.
                                                           Bright and sunny with a few black clouds on a strong SW>6 but this seemed to affect me more than the birds, hence the camera shake.
Wheatears started showing from the word go with at least 6 present but probably more if Id have had the time to search further.
A check on Ring Ouzel clough paid off although I went about it all wrong ,not expecting to see anything there . I stuck my head over the ridge , camera not at the ready, and there was a female Ring Ouzel on a fence post right at the bottom in the usual area which immediately took off and flew across to the stone pile down on the Shay, not to be re located.
                                                                             Up to 8 Skylark were present as well as several Meadow Pipits, 2 Wrens along with a Kestrel and a Common gull fly overs.
Beware looking for Ring Ouzel up there as a pair of Blackbirds are in the bottom of the tree line which had me going for a minute.
BS

Ogden late p.m.

  Best I could muster today. Gt Spotted Woodpecker.

      Bit of a rare bird for me not being a woodland walker.

1500 hrs and Ogden had dark skies and a strong SW>5 with the clouds getting darker and eventually bringing rain.
The water looked empty now that the Goosanders have moved on and an absence of gulls apart from 1 Common gull which landed briefly on the water before moving off again. Otherwise it was down to 2 Canadas, 1m Tufted and the usual Mallards.
Passerine alley failed to provide me with a March Phylloscopus, thats the problem up here with woodland birds, we,re the last to get them and the first to loose them.
                                                    Plenty singing Gt Tits, Robins and Wrens through the alley with a few Blue Tits but the Long Tailed Tits seemed to have gone straight through.
Bird of the day, Gt Spotted Woodpecker, was briefly at the back of the picnic area by the info centre
before it flew deep into the plantation.
By now the rain was coming down in stair rods so head for home,
BS

Far away foreign places. Blackstone Edge/ Baitings reservoir.

             Still a few Common gulls around  now in summer plumage.

                                    A single in Foxhill today.

                               Baitings reservoir

           Thats a fair expanse of water

                                    The overflow.

            Looking down to a misty Ryburn.

An afternoon of childminding but had to deliver the grand daughter back to Kebroyd at 1700 hrs so dropped her off and carried on through Ripponden to the top of the hill to check Blackstone Edge reservoir where the weather was atrocious with a strong SW>5-6 and misty low scud clouds along with rain.
The rough water held just 1f Goldeneye, 3 f Goosander and 3 Mallard with 2 Pied Wagtails on the banking. Back down then to Baitings reservoir where the weather was almost as bad with the strong wind and heavy rain. the water here held 2f Goosander, 3 Cormorant and 4 Mallards. I,d forgot what a large expanse of water Baitings was, glad its not my patch, its impossible to cover it all and photos would be a no no.
                                                    A scan from Baitings dam wall looking at Ryburn which looked void of birds but was,nt sure of access down there and time running out so gave that a miss. Was going to have a quick look at Derby Delph but never found it, its changed since I was last up there in the days of the RSPB Peregrine watch when you could drive in and park.
At least I know I,m not missing much over there so I can put my passport away again for a while.
BS

Queensbury South

With a million jobs to do this afternoon birding had to take a bit of a back seat limited to a quick check on Tracys Wheatear field, Shelf Moor trailer park but no sign of Wheatears. The field was active with around 15 Meadow Pipits, 4 Lapwing and a Mistle Thrush whilst 4 Snipe dropped into the juncus field to roost. The car boot sale field off High Cross Lane held around 40 Fieldfare and at least 2 Redwing with several Lapwing in fields along Corporal Hill,
                                                           Otherwise a poor day with thick fog till midday then hazy skies all p.m. with limited visibility.
BS.

Ogden, pm

              Plenty Meadow pipits on the edge of the moor
                        but no Ring Ouzels as yet.

                                    Goosanders down to 5 this afternoon

       Moorhen, an uncommon sp. at Ogden

     Long Tailed Tits at last in passerine alley.

 1 of the drake Tufted seems to have made
         Ogden its home.
           

With little time and skies too hazy for any sky watching it was off to Ogden at 1500 hrs to see what was new. Blue skies above and sunshine on a slight E>3 failed to bring any Phylloscopus to passerine alley so had to make do with 8 Long Tailed Tits very mobile moving through the Willows, a species thats been very rare here over the winter which is unusual. Otherwise it was down to Blue, Great and Coal Tits + the usual sp.
                                       The water was down to 5 Goosander and an Ogden rarity, Moorhen, along with 2 LBB gulls , 1 Black Headed gull , 1 drake Tufted and the usual Mallards.
 The Kingfishers have been absent some time now moving away to breed as they have done in previous years along with the Dippers.
All quiet on reports and grapevine messages today but that could just be a Monday thing.
BS

Ringby Top. p.m.

With things on the move this morning Ringby Top seemed like a good choice for late p.m. to get in a 1 hour sky watch although when I got up there at 1500 hrs conditions were far from perfect with sunshine and blue skies but hazy visibility to the west beyond the wind farm and Ferrybridge to the each was barely visible. A cold E>4 was blowing so whether it was the cold wind or the sunny skies stopping movement I dont know but things were definitely quiet.
                                                              No more Pinkies on the move but plenty LBB gulls all heading >E, with Commons and Black Headeds now having left the area. Two Herring gulls went over >SW along with 2 very distant Buzzards. Otherwise it was down to the usual Corvids, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks with a single Linnet fly over.
A couple of reports this p.m. from Oxenhope with a possible Shag at Leeming reservoir MC, and a Red Kite over Leeshaw reservoir HC, thanks for those lads.
BS

Buzzing at Fly Flatts

                                         Golden Plover

                       Distant skies alive with Goldies

                                       Barnacle on the water

                                 Greylag

                                  Greylag, Canadas and Barnacle

                           1 of 2 Oystercatcher

         Snipe drumming. note drumming tail feathers.

                Plenty established Curlew

 One for the ladies, new life at Fly Flatts

  Just when tou thought they,d all gone
  Distant skein of Pink Footed Geese

             1 of 2 Goldies in the kennel field.

A bright clear sunny morning at Fly Flatts with a cold E>4 and the skies were buzzing.
On arrival the Golden Plovers were in the air with 200+ giving an amazing aerobatic display before they dropped back onto the moor not to be seen again other than 2 in the usual kennel field.
                                                  Lapwing and Curlew were everywhere as well as 9 Snipe up drumming along with an unusually high number of singing Skylarks for this area.
The water held the usual Canadas and Mallards along with 2 Greylag and 1 Barnacle, the latter presumably from Cold Edge.
Wheatears are still struggling to arrive as yet with none down by the water or feeding station and just 2 seen down by the farm along with a male Stonechat.
                                                                         Sky watching from Slade for an expected last push of Whoopers produced a massive skein of Pink Footed Geese way out over Stoodley Pike heading >NW, a species I least expected to see this morning thinking they had all gone .

200+ Golden Plover + 2 in kennel field
Skein of Pink Footed Geese Est c300
9 Snipe
16 Curlew
2 Oystercatchers
2 Greylag
1 Barnacle
1m Stonechat
+ usual Lapwings, Canadas. Meadow Pipits etc.
BS