Some pics of the past

Robin at Ogden

BH Gull at Ogden

House Sparrow in the garden

An icy cold day with the north wind blowing even though temperatures were 1 degree above freezing. Some short lived sunshine but mostly cloudy with slight snow showers. Heavy freezing late p.m. , when is the thaw going to start ?
Quiet on the birds scene other than the usual sp. although not had much time to look out today with Green Flag and the AA dumping cars on us one after the other, looks like a busy day tomorrow getting them out for Christmas.
Apart from the usual batteries and freeze ups heres a couple of tips from jobs we are doing nearly every day and it can save you big money.

Always sweep off snow from the screen and free the wipers from ice before you turn them on. In theory the nut on the arm is suppose to undo or the fuse blow as a safety device but this seldom happens and the linkage breaks. An average linkage on modern cars can cost over £100 plus vat plus fitting.

Always switch off the heater fan when you turn off the engine. When you start up the car turn the fan on with the engine running.
If you leave the fan on full and then start up the car it causes a power surge and can burn out the heater motor or ignition switch.
A heater motor is around £50 but on certain cars can take up to 6 hours to fit.

I,m talking myself out of work here but if your car is laid up you,re not out birding so no reports coming in, Im not daft.

Probably no time for blog tomorrow night with daughters etc coming but if anything mega turns up,( he says hopefully ), Ill put it on.
Otherwise thanks for viewing this blog and I hope you all have a smashing Christmas and manage to get some birding in. Im off after tomorrow till Wednesday 29th so should get 3 birdy mornings in. All the best, Bri.
BS

Herring gulls and Mallards

No sign of any thaw as yet.

A striped sky midday

More cloud about today with just short periods of blue and looking like snow at one point but managed to avoid it.
The sky was strangely striped at lunchtime but the temperatures remained below zero.
Mallards were in evidence this morning with 5 seperate small groups , between 3 and 7, moving in several directions, probably searching for unfrozen water. The resident Mallards from the Station Rd pond have moved on since it iced over even though the owner is trying to entice them back with food.
By 1500hrs Herring gulls were moving over >W in ones and twos continuing until last light when also 3 red head goosanders went over >N probably to the Oxenhope roost if there is any water unfrozen.
Lynda today said why do birds struggle here in Queensbury in the worst of the weather when they could go lower down to a milder climate and less snow, ? good question, answers on a postcard please , or a comment will do.
Come to that, why do we stop in Queensbury?
BS

Queensbury Today

These 2 characters appear opposite the garage every day
to sit on the warm chimney vents.

Chapel Lane, early morn.

Whiteout, Foxhill Park

Again a bright clear day but no thaw and lower temperatures than yesterday. Inside the garage read minus 4 degrees when I opened up and minus 1 when I closed at tea time,even the water in the kettle had froze.
At least we,re on the right side of the shortest day now and we,ll soon be starting again with those annual tick lists and wondering where we went wrong with the ones missing off last years. My bogey bird over the last few years has been Redstart which I use to pick up regular even at Ogden but lately they all seem to have gone. Strangely Ive had more Black Redstarts recently than commons. Anyway,apart from the absentees we can,t grumble at the many special birds that have shown up in this small area over 2010. A list will be put up on the blog at the end of the year showing special sightings.
All quiet in the skies today apart from the usual feeders, I was hoping for the passage of Whoopers to continue today but it didnt happen.
BS

More pics from yesterdays Ogden trip.

The big freeze

The bread,s suppose to be to get gull photos!

No joke when your beard,s frozen.

A bright blue sky today with a bit of warmth in the midday sun but very little thawing going on.
A few LBBs on the move today all >WNW and several Redwing flying overhead in no specific direction.Most seemed to be heading towards the old railway station where there are plenty Holly bushes bearing fruit.
An alarm call from NK this afternoon of 2 Whooper Swans heading my way sent me flying out into the carpark, camera in hand and trigger finger twitching but the birds must have veered to the east of me leaving me looking at empty skies. This is usually the case as DCB has rung me many times with geese or swans heading over the Speak Institute SE towards me but they always seem to veer off early and head down the valley over Clayton. Thanks for the call anyway Nigel, it was a nice thought and could have got me an annual tick as I dont think I got any at the beginning of the year but I,ll have to check.
Well, its the shortest day tomorrow so slowly the days will start to lengthen and we,ll feel like weve turned the corner.
BS

Downtown birding

Halifax Parish Church

Thrushes and Blackbirds were fighting over berries

Thick fog this p.m. so the Soil Hill excursion had to be aborted. Instead headed down Halifax to check out the roosts around the Parish church, Sainsburys and Wickes which proved to be an interesting area. It was just after 1500hrs so the light was rapidly starting to fade and birds seemed to be feeding well before the long cold night.
The most active area was the hedges and rowans down between Wickes and Sainsburys where I counted 15 Blackbirds, 9 Mistle Thrush and 2 Song Thrush along with several Robins and Dunnocks. The Blackbirds were going through holes in the hedge to roost deep inside the bushes whilst the thrushes were settling down in the large evergreen tree up the side of Sainsburys wall.
The trees around the church held up to 11 Magpies whilst the steeple itself was used by feral pigeons and Jackdaws.
Sainsburys trees were quiet apart from a few Blackbirds but the trees behind the filling station in the old goods yard held a flock of c 20 Chaffinch but were very mobile so I was unable to see if any Brambling were amongst them. This area is obviously where the Brambling that Ive had in Sainsburys in the past have come from.
A small flock of 6 Siskin were in the large Willow tree in Matalans car park along with a few Blue tits.
5 Pied Wagtails were at the bottom end of the Woolshops but no sign of the usual roost starting.
Large numbers of Jackdaws were settling on wires at the top of Southowram Bank and several small gulls were noisily feeding in the leisure centre car park.
No Waxwings about which was either due to the late hour or the fact that I had my camera with me.
Amazing how so many birds are about in a busy area and people are dashing around christmas shopping without noticing them.
This will go down as a recommended area to watch, especially in the spring when the Warblers turn up.
BS

A frozen Ogden

Inquisitive BH gull

3 Remaining water holes

Med Gull in with these

A freezing cold morning with blue skies and sunshine until 0945 when dense fog crept in.
The water was near completely frozen apart from 3 water holes, each being surrounded with Mallards and small gulls.
A record count of Mallard with 243 along with 72 Common gulls and 41 Black Headed plus the Med gull which was well out on the ice giving scope views only.
Strangely the Dipper pond was clear but no sign of the bird.
A single Heron flew over >NE otherwise it was just down to the usual woodland sp.
BS

Let it snow, let it snow,let it snow!

Christmas card material. Foxhill Park

Sunset over Foxhill

A murky foggy morning on Sourheads

Heavy overnight snow left another good covering on top of yesterdays ice, and below zero temperatures stopped any chance of thawing throughout the day. Just dropped one of the daughters off in Halifax where shes going for a meal, and she came out of her house and waded through the snow in short skirt, low top and high heeled shoes? She looked at me gone out when I asked her where her coat was,I must be getting old.
Halifax shopping today found 27 Waxwings in a tree outside the bus station opposite the RSPCA, of course it was the one time Id forgot my camera but I suppose this species has been photographed to death this and previous years. Thats not to say if they,re about tomorrow I won,t snap them.
Have,nt decided on the venue yet for tomorrow morning with the weather conditions as they are, its a bit awkward in the snow with 3 small dogs on tow and the trouble is they know when its Sunday so I can,t sneak out without them. Whatever happens, Ill be out somewhere and will be giving Soil Hill some stick late p.m.
BS

The frozen village

Keeping warm

Here we go again

A wintery Chapel Lane

A few days mild then back in at the deep end with heavy snow yesterday and sub zero temperatures throughout today. To add to that heavy snow is forecast for the weekend.
Resident birds are again desperately flying around garden to garden looking for food and harder to find, water. Several gardens around here have feeders up and bread thrown out but very few people think to put out water during freezing conditions. I suppose thats because its much harder to keep up to when its freezing. I can put warm water out up here only to see it freeze over within 15 mins.
Down by the garage today several corvids were huddled up to chimneys keeping warm but the Magpies didnt seem affected by the cold in the least.
We,ll have to wait and see what the weekend has to throw at us now.
BS

Chaos at Queensbury traffic lights

Never argue with something bigger than you.

Cavalry arrive but not needed

Lucky driver escaped with minor injuries

This was the scene at queensbury traffic lights this morning. The wagon had to swing wide to turn left and the Clio was going up the inside of him and got dragged round the corner. Lucky or what!

A wet start till 0915 then heavy snow quickly covering and going on till lunch time. Struggled on icy roads to Illingworth Morrisons but when I went over to Heaton snow was none existant.
Looks like the poor birds are in for another hard time.
BS

Lunchtime birding session

Queensbury Parish Church and graveyard

Black Headed gulls after scraps ,Queensbury school.

A second hand report today about possible Waxwings being seen in Queensbury graveyard inspired me to quickly check it out on my way back to work from lunch.
As expected, no sign of Waxwings but a suprise as to how lively the bird life was there.
The trees by the Broomfield St entrance were full of noise Starlings along with Magpies and Corvids whilst in the graveyard I counted
7 Robins
2 Wrens
3 Dunnocks
5 Blackbirds
1 Mistle Thrush
and a single Jay which flew off over Sourheads.
Several BH gulls were around the school playground cleaning up after the school kids lunch break.
Not bad for a 10 minute scout around and it put me in good stead for an afternoons work.

Good to see Phil Cunningham in the new Yorkshire Birding mag for helping to id an eastern Olivaceous Warbler at Flamborough this summer, glad we dont get stuff like that around here, Id hate to be the one to put the call out and 520+ birders turning on my say so!
A breed of their own these east coast birders.
BS

A grey Queensbury day

Looking east from Foxhill into the sunshine towards Otley

A dark dreary day at Queensbury today staying dark till after 0800hrs then remaining dull and drizzly with fog after dark.
The village was alive with feeding birds at mid day with massive flocks of Starlings around plus Common and Black Headed gulls. House Sparrows were tucking in to a table full of pasta and rice with constant glances over their shoulder watching for the local Sparrowhawk with keeps swooping through.
A customer reported of a small wader type bird seen on a couple of occasions when walking his dog on the track from Ned Hill below Soil Hill. He says its usually up the boggy track leading up to the hill in the reeds and describes it as wader type with long bill and brown speckled body and it only flys a few yards then drops down again. Could be Common Snipe but when flushed they,re usually up and away, could be Jack Snipe with that flight pattern, worth a check out anyway.
BS

More pics from yesterday

Wigeon, yesterdays star performer.

The Wigeon looked settled but had moved on today

Soil Hill view of Withins Gap

A day of grey skies with occasional sunny intervals with temperatures dropping as the day went on and down below freezing after dark.
In contrast to yesterday the skies appeared empty with no sign of yesterdays massive big gull move and going by todays Ogden report things there were also quiet. I expected the Wigeon to stay around a couple of days but Ogden was obviously just a stopping off point before it continued its journey probably to the east. The last birds I expected to see yesterday were Pink Footed Geese which I thought by now all the movement was over. Just shows how unpredictable birding is and how it can alter desperately from one day to the next. I suppose thats one of the main things that keeps us all interested, not knowing whats around the corner.
BS