Oats Royd pm visit.

                                   The resident Greylag

                         The one small patch of unfrozen water.

                                    Plenty of Chaffinch

With the time at 1500hrs and drizzly mist on the Soil Hill the nearest spot was Oats Royd.
With the late hour most birds had already gone down leaving plenty Chaffinch in the Alders but no Brambling.
A nice little flock of 15 Siskin were flying round but very mobile.
Tons of Alders down there so needs a good checking out if ever I get the time, also plenty cones up on the Gulf making it look ideal for Crossbill.
All the ponds were frozen apart from a small section by the waterfall where the Greylag and white goose were.
BS

Ogden

                  Not an easy life when you,re a Wren

                                   Dunnock in the snow

                      Mallards are always well fed

Ogden,    Very dark and grey with constant freezing drizzle throughout, E>4.

A good start with a Little Owl  flying in front of the car and landing on the wall on Syke Lane in part dark.
From then on it was downhill with several small gulls and the usual Mallards on the water, but absolutely nothing on 2 laps of the reservoir. Any birds were near the feeders by the info centre with 7 Robins, 5 m Blackbirds, 3 Dunnock, 2 Great Tit and 2 Wrens. The morning just saved with the performing Wren and the Little Owl.
BS

Soil Hill late afternoon

Soil Hill late afternoon, Frozen, snowed up, fog rolling in and birdless, lovely.
I,ll still be back up tomorrow late afternoon probably, its like a magnet.
BS

Soil Hill/Mixenden reservoir.

                                       Mixenden Reservoir

                                     1m  2f  Goldeneye

                                Sickly looking BHG on its own in the corner

                                        Pied Wagtail

Mixenden reservoir was quiet on the water fowl with just 2 f and 1 m Goldeneye on the water with no Mallards at all and the other Goldeneyes reported by DJS moved on.
c 200 small gulls were on the water with one BHG on its own near the edge looking a bit sorry for itself.
A single Grey Wagtail flew from the corner as I arrived and a Pied Wag was on the shoreline as I was leaving, my first Wagtails this year. Only Yellow to get now which could prove a little more difficult, or as last year, impossible.
Called at Soil Hill on the way back last light in heavy icy drizzle and fog rapidly closing in.
A circuit of the summits and mounds found nothing with no tracks showing to say there had been birds there.
The whole of the hill is frozen and snow covered and the usual clear patches where the snow has been blown clear are non existent.
BS

More snow for Queensbury

                   Apples on sticks in the garden well appreciated

                                                1st year Blackbird

                                    No Waxwings yet

                                           More snow tonight

                                    Still no gritters Dave!

Slipped up with this photo, the car on the road hit his brake and slowed right down when
he saw the flash, I was stood by a speed camera ! Oops, he,s going to be watching the post for the next 2 weeks.

A grey day below freezing with a stiff SE>4 wafting the snow about. Snowed again from mid afternoon but nothing serious, not by Queensbury standards anyway.
The numbers of passerines had moved on from around the park at midday making it a quiet lunchtime apart from the Blackbird on the apples in the front garden spending most of the day there. Hoping to tempt Waxwings but nothing as yet.
BS

Icy Queensbury

                High number of Blackbirds

                 Plenty passerines skulking in the hedges.

                                          A wintery Foxhill

Another sub zero day with grey skies and no sign of a thaw. Heavy snow falling from last light.
Much livelier for birds today but all keeping low and moving around garden feeders. The gardens around Foxhill park held an unusual high count of Blackbirds for the area at midday with 11 males seen in a 15 minute walk along with several Blue Tits, 3 Robins and 2 Coal Tits, all unusual to this area.
Renewed a seed feeder and put fat balls in the existing feeders in Chapel Lane graveyard today to try entice something. Hope thats ok Eric, didn,t know who the feeders belong to, the chapel or the house.
BS.

Fog and Fieldfares

                                   Early fog clearing

                 Mill chimney coming into view

                             Victoria Hall looming up

                                  Blue skies showing

                                            Fog gone

                                                   Blue skies to the east

A foggy start but soon clearing to leave some sunshine and blue skies later clouding over with temperatures never above freezing, or not in the garage anyway.
Again all was quiet apart from resident feeding birds but midday  a large flock of Fieldfares , around 60, was seen well out to the east going directly north towards the Aire Valley. This was followed by a smaller group of around 30 following on. They were very high with fog in the Bradford/ Yeadon valley below them.
This evening on the way home from work a Robin was singing in the Chapel Lane graveyard in the dark at 1730hrs.
BS

Black Dyke Mills birds

                                   Feral Pigeons overt mill

Steady snow fall all a.m. then another bright clear sunny afternoon.
Foxhill park at lunch time was completely void of birds both in the sky and around the trees, not even a gull or corvid.
In desperation , on the way back to work, I had a quick stroll around Black Dyke Mills attracted by a large flock of feral pigeons with c 60 in the air and around another c40 on the mill buildings and window ledges.
Much of the mill is disused now so the pigeons have taken up residence in the empty buildings and the number of birds is increasing rapidly.
Also around the mill yard was 1 Robin, 2 Blackbirds, c30 Starling and a Kestrel on the chimney.
A few BHGs were around probably from the flat room that is watched by NK.
BS

Spring 2012, Tawny Owls

            Young Tawny Owls     Photo Pauline Berriman

                                        Photo, Pauline Berriman

                                       Photo, Pauline Berriman

Pauline contacted me the other day enquiring about Kestrels and Little Owls that she,d seen on my blog and today sent me these cracking young Tawny Owl photos that she had taken last spring after watching a pair breed at an undisclosed site in the Oakworth / Keighley area.
Many thanks for sharing these Pauline.
BS

Winter Wonderland, Queensbury.

                                       Chapel Lane graveyard

                                          Chapel Lane

                                                Foxhill Park

                                                  Chapel Lane

Light overnight snow then heavy snow from 0830hrs till 1145 hrs leaving a good 3" depth.
By midday the sun was out and clear blue skies making a glorious day until 1445hrs when the temperature took a dive giving heavy freezing.
The skies were active but only with the resident small gulls, House Sparrows and Starlings frantically moving round feeding ready for the cold night ahead.
Hopefully the cold spell this week will shuffle the birds around a bit ready for the weekend.
Darkness fell just after 1635 this evening showing that the days are slowly lengthening although the mornings are slower moving.
BS