Not a day for birding.

 With a strong wind and terrential rain showers it was match abandoned with too windy for Fly Flatts and Ogden not a safe place to be under the trees, so I settled for a few very wet and windy dog walks over Foxhill and took advantage of the bad weather by getting both dogs bathed and groomed, so that's a big job done for another 6 weeks.

     Foxhill park held 10 Common gull, all stomping for worms and enjoying the softened ground, along with several Woodpigeons and the usual 4 Crows. The adult Crows bred 2 young this year which are still present, one having a pure white belly and the other having brilliant white wing bars.

   Its a good job wader season is over with the amount of rain today, which will have now covered most of the shore at Fly Flatts. A big influx of Yellow Browed Warblers in the country now, up north, so one to look out for at Ogden. The last sighting there being 29th-30th Sept 2012 whilst Dan Branch located one on Soil Hill 29th Sept 2024.

      Talking of Soil Hill, the summit is back to clear rubble and pools as it was many years ago when Snow Bunting was a common winter species up there. The late, great Halifax birder Gordon Denison had a feeding station up there which regularly attracted winter Twite, Shore Lark, Lapland Bunting and Snow Bunting. Gordon was an amazingly dedicated birder whom I spent many happy hours with at Fly Flatts where his feeding station on the west bank also attracted the same as Soil Hill.

                                              Gordon with another of his enthusiastic projects.

     Tomorrow could go either way with a strong WNW bringing sunshine and showers at 9 degrees.

BS

      

Fly Flatts

 

                                    Raven passing the top mast

                                1 of 4 Stonechat

                                    LBB gulls >SE

A half decent morning weather wise with full dark cloud cover but good visibility despite several large scud clouds moving over low, just below the turbine tops. A light SW>3-4 at 10 degrees.

     A much quieter morning  with most of yesterdays small passerines gone leaving 4 Stonechat, 2 Reed Bunting and around 30 Meadow Pipits.

   A group of 71 LBB gulls were on the water along with 5 Canadas and a single Greylag whilst  a good number of LBB gulls were passing, heading >SE.

   Otherwise, just 2 Kestrel and a single Raven in the air. A disappointing morning for this time of year.

Tomorrow is looking like a write off with strong to gale force westerlies gusting up to storm force with some rain.

BS

Back to Fly Flatts.

 

                                    Good count of Stonechat

                                        Goldfinch feeding off the thistle tops

                                Distant Mistle Thrush, rare visitor for this site.

                                Few Common gulls returning to Wainstalls football pitch.

A very dark start to the morning with the sky overcast with a low cloud base blanking out the tops of the turbines on a light SW>3 at 9 degrees.

     Stonechats were the star attraction this morning with at least 11 present around the compound area as well as 14 Reed Bunting, c 20 Goldfinch and several Meadow Pipits. A single Mistle Thrush on a distant fence post was unusual for this site whilst the water held 1 Tufted, 7 Canada and 3 Greylag.

   Around 80 post roost LBB gulls were on the north shore briefly before leaving >NE whilst a Kestrel was the only other bird in the air.

   Hopefully there will be a move of wildfowl overnight or in the morning ahead of the afternoons weather front.

  Tomorrow morning not looking too bad with cloudy sunshine on a moderate SW at 10 degrees before the wind gets up to gale force with heavy rain later in the day.

BS

Ogden, early a.m.

 

                                Very few gulls on the west shore

                                    4 distant Teal

                                    Single Little Grebe

                                Few gulls on the east shore

                                    Herring gull in the centre

2 Goosanders present                                                             

                                    female                           male in eclipse.

Dense fog on the tops whilst Ogden was clear but rain throughout on a light SW>2 at 11 degrees.

     To avoid the hilltop fog I set off for Leeshaw reservoir but only got as far as Denholme Gate ending up in a queue of  standing traffic as far as the eye could see. This is the third time I've attempted to get to Oxenhope and turned round each time. With nothing moving I swung round and headed for Ogden which turned out to be a good move with 4 Teal on the water along with a single Little Grebe and 2 Goosanders as well as the usual gulls, though very few are present in the morning.

     A full circuit of the water failed to find anything in the waterside trees, which was hardly surprising in the very wet conditions. Ogden will be worth keeping an eye on from now with wildfowl on the move.

   Cloud and sunshine for morning on a moderate SW at 10 degrees.

BS