Cold Edge Dams/Hunters Hill p.m.

                                    Cold Edge Dams

                                  A mixture of Geese

   Canadas, Curlew and Barnacle.

Very windy round the dams with no shoreline showing. Most of the activity was in the goose field.

63 Canadas
2 Greylag
1 Curlew
1f Goldeneye
1pr Tufted.
BS

Hunters Hill/ Cold Edge Dams

         Queensbury from Hunters Hill

S.E. from Hunters Hill

                    Little Owl taking in the sun.

A very strong W>5 gusting>6 with bright sunshine this p.m. , just too windy for the birds although there was still signs of this mornings Meadow Pipit movement. Strangely not a Wheatear to be seen in what proves to be a usual hotspot. This probably means that the first wave of birds has moved through.

Movers :-
25 Meadow Pipits .................>N
2 Skylark..............................>N
3 LBB Gull...........................>NW
2 Herring Gull.......................>W
BS

Fly Flatts- Vis Mig

                                 The Overflow

             Early Doors, Troubled Skies

                             The Residents

04/04/2010  0730-1015hrs   cold NW>6 decreasing slightly   Heavy showers throughout.

A good move of Meadow Pipits mainly between 0730 and 0830 when birds were moving high in good numbers. This reduced after 0830 with birds coming over in ones and twos and skimming low over the moor making counting difficult.
All the later rain showers and black cloud were to my western side of the hill whilst the blue skies were over the eastern side on DCBs area, typical !

Movers :-

138 Meadow Pipit........................>N
4 LBB Gull..................................>N
2 Skylark....................................>N
2 Snipe......................................>N

Other :-
32 Canada Geese
7 Curlew
3 Twite
2 Golden Plover
sev blogging Mipits
+ usual sp.
BS

Queensbury Visible Migration

                                   A VIS MIG EVENING SKY

                        Hard to pick out the birds in the dark grey background

Any company is appreciated to a vis migger.

Roper Lane.  1700-1815 hrs  Cold S > 4  Cloudy.
Tonights watch proved fruitful thanks to a lunchtime Skype call from DCB to say things were moving.
Spring vis mig always seems livelier after mid day unlike autumn vis mig which is at its best early a.m. although spring watching is much more difficult as the birds are to search for and go through in much smaller numbers.

9 Alba Wagtails...........................>N
11 Fieldfare................................>NE
2 LBB Gulls...............................>NW
13 Meadow Pipit.......................>N
1 Buzzard.................................>SE
1 Snipe.....................................>N
4 Duck sp.  .............................>SE   very high and far out.  Fast flyers, Wigeon type  ?
BS

Fieldfares Return Journey

                        Watchpoint looking W.

                          Watchpoint looking SW

                          Watchpoint looking WSW

Roper Lane.  1630- 1730hrs  Heavy rain ESE >4  low cloud cover.

Took advantage of the approaching band of rain from the SW to see what it brought in the front of it.
The choice of venue was nothing to do with Nigels Osprey sightings of yesterday ( honest).
Anyway , it proved to be a good decision with a good movement of Fieldfare and a scattering of Mipits.
Thanks to Dave Barker, who was at his Oxenhope watchpoint, for keeping me informed via Skype of the approaching rainbelt being picked up by him.At one point it was showing the belt of rain as being 80 miles wide.

Fieldfare.............48,  15,  31.       Total......... 94 >NE
Meadow Pipit..........8 >N
BS

Fogged out for Easter

   A clear window to start off.

                  Fog soon creeping in.

Juv Cormorant through the murk.

OGDEN RESERVOIR
02/04/2010     0730-0930hrs  Clear start with fog hanging low at 1000ft then complete blankout by 0930. Cool E >3  damping.
A disappointing start to the easter break with visibility down to 75 yds early in the watch.
Plenty woodland bird song, mainly Robin and Chaffinch, and Chiffchaff numbers building.
Back working in the morning so hope for better things to come on Sunday.
Happy Easter to all birders.


3 Canada Geese
1 pr Goosander
1pr Teal
1 Cormorant
1 Sparrowhawk
4 Chiffchaff.
+ usual sp.

Moving Birds :-
2 Meadow Pipts   >N
BS

Ospreys hit Queensbury

Sunset over the Oxenhope watchpoint from above Wilsden

Had to run an errand to Heaton tonight and stopped on route to take this sunset shot, whilst in the meantime NK was watching Ospreys flying over this same landscape from Queensbury. Click on Birdbrain link for Nigels report.
BS

Winter returns to Queensbury

          Back to winter this morning, Chapel Lane.

        Christmas card material.

             Linnet in the snow.

A wintery walk to work this morning but a suprise to see 3 Linnets in the rugby field trees which is an ususual sighting even in good weather.
More to match the weather were 2 Fieldfares >N and 5 Common gull >NW.
Looks like its going to be winter gear on for any birding this easter.
BS

A few good Wheatear spots .

Soil Hill viewed from Syke Lane. Ogden

                                                 Ovenden Moor windfarm viewed from Ogden Lane.

                                    Withins Gap Farm viewed from Ogden.  Wheatear country.

Wheatears are now moving through the area and above are just 3 hotspots to see them.
Soil Hill on previous years has held up to 25 in one day at the peak of the movement.
Male and female are easily distinguished apart in the spring with the male in its amazing breeding plumage, but during the return journey from their breeding grounds in the autumn both sexes look alike. Autumn is the time to look for a long legged bruiser of a bird which may be a Greenland Wheatear.


All quiet around my neck of the woods today due to fog followed by torrential rain showers plus a bit of sleet. Lets hope it gets it over with before easter.
BS

Queensbury today

Report from customer of 2 Swallows >W over Brewery Lane then across low over Oats Royd this a.m.
Cormorant again seen at Oats Royd today.
1 F. Sparrowhawk over Foxhill at mid day scattering Collared Doves.
1 Wren in back garden
1pr Chaffinch starting to nest behind house.
The male Chaffinch every morning keeps flying at the garage window battering against the glass, this goes on for up to 30 minutes . Dont know if its trying to get to cobwebs on the inside of the glass or attacking its own reflection thinking its a rival bird. Any ideas ?
BS

Soil Hill Trig. Point

The Triangulation Point on the summit of Soil Hill , a good spot for passing Ring Ouzel.

Soil Hill, pm visit. Strong WNW> 5 , bright and clear.
A full search of Soil Hill this afternoon has left me with yet again no Wheatears for another weekend..A concentration of the trig point area also proved fruitless for Ring Ouzel. On the plus side 2 Sand Martin came over >W towards Ogden and a Cormorant in from the east dropped down into Oats Royd.

1 Kestrel
5 Lapwing
8 Skylark
11 Meadow Pipit
2 Sand Martin >W
1 Cormorant, dropped into Oats Royd

No Wheatear.
BS

Blustery Fly Flatts

Hide Tide at Fly FlattsDean Head from Fly Flatts

28/03/2010  First day of British summer time.  0730-1000hrs Near gale NW>6 dry and bright. Icy cold.

Far too windy for much movement , biggest problem was keeping upright in the strong wind. Even then Mipits were battling into the wind with an early morning move dropping to a trickle midway through the watch. Disappointingly still no Wheatear and no Twite on the seed.

Movers :-

56 Meadow Pipits...................>N and >NW all low with very undulating flight due to winds.

2 Alba Wagtails......................>N

1 Snipe.................................>N

4 Jackdaws..........................very high and >N

1 Heron.................................NW  possible frog hunter.

Other :-

22 Canadas

1 m Stonechat

2 Oystercatchers

1 Redshank

+ usual Mallards and corvids

BS

A blast from the past

HC and myself.DCBs ghostly figure

HC, DCB, MD.A keen DCB.

Autumn vis mig at Oxenhope in years gone by.

BS.

Top of the Hill

                              Over Thornton to Baildon Moor from Foxhill

Foxhill Park.

Several Chaffinch around at lunch time which is unusual for this area, some were up singing.

2 Pied Wagtails were on the top pitch whilst a Skylark could be heard singing towards Old Guy Rd.

The park still holds 4 early morning Common Gull but the BH gulls seem to have dispersed.

Shelf Moor this evening produced 6 Redwing in Hawthorns and 1 Little Owl.

Lets see what this weekend produces other than rain.

BS

Black Dyke Mills and Church

Black Dyke MillsQueensbury Church

Bit quiet on the birding scene today with nothing unusual other than 2 LBB gulls >W at lunch time.

Good to get reports of more Wheatears, see Darrells blog, Green Withens for report and cracking photos, and an early sighting of a Swallow over Soil Hill, Calderbirds, well spotted Dishfish.

BS