More of the foggy stuff

Queensbury today was again shrouded with fog which got thicker as the morning went on.
A pre work check on a misty Old Guy Rd found 100s of frustrated Meadow Pipits flying around low over the cricket pitch with several on the deck all wanting to move but not in the foggy conditions.
A flock of up to 50 Goldfinch were acting the same over Foxhill park at lunch time still in the fog, flying around and dropping down behind the Pineberry pub onto thistle tops.
Hopefully the fog will clear for the weekend although the forecast does,nt look promising.
BS

Queensbury vis mig fogged out

                        The story this a.m. Foxhill Park.

Dense fog up here in the gods this morning and sticking until well after mid day when it brightened up until last light.
Even the dinner time dog walk found nothing with the fog still thick.
Late afternoon a few LBB gulls went over >SE and good numbers of congregating Starlings are around the village.
Nice to meet DCB today who called in the garage whilst doing his rounds trying to find grounded birds in the fog at local sites having had to dip out on vis mig in the conditions.
Sorry I did,nt have much time to chat Dave but a bit thrang on today.
BS

Queensbury vis mig

              Sun going down last night over Foxhill

          Plenty Meadow Pipits scattered across the cricket field

      Jackdaws in good numbers at the moment around the village

         Woodpigeons starting to flock but these are the last
     to move going on through November.

A murky, cloudy morning but 2 mile visibility so enough for a short pre work vis mig watch from Old Guy Rd.
The cricket pitch was alive with Mipits new in but no sign on the long staying Pied Wagtails or Wheatears.

Vis Mig   20 minutes

42 Meadow Pipit........................>S
3 Skylark...................................>SW
4 Alba Wagtails........................>W
8 Linnet....................................>W
2 Swallows...............................>S
c40 Meadow Pipits....................blogging
7 LBB gulls...............................>SE
1 Mistle Thrush.........................>W
BS

Queensbury fog strikes again.

Another morning of dense fog on the top of this hill not clearing until 0830hrs after which the mist rolled in and out until midday when the skies brightened. This once again put paid to any early morning vis mig before work. Even HC was biting at the bit in Oxenhope wanting to get up to his watch point sending me text at 0600hrs for weather reports.
Ideal Tern moving conditions in the grey drizzle with a Common  turning up at Elland Gravel Pits this a.m. but no other reports despite Fly Flatts and Ogden being watched today ( JL ).
Swallows were moving over Foxhill park at lunch time all >S along with 5 Meadow Pipits and the local Pied Wagtail family seem to have moved on.
Watch for those Pink Footed Geese, skeins were first sighted last year from 18th Sept.

   Stonking shot of a Sparrowhawk taken and sent in by my PA Tracy Collier who keeps me going with photos for the blog when I have none. Well done Tracy, a difficult species to photograph.
BS

Queensbury Today

    Setting sun dropping into low cloud beyond the Withins
                 From Fleet Lane

                                       Ball of Fire

Thick fog and heavy early rain over the village this morning stopping any attempt of a pre work vis mig watch, brightening by late morning leaving cloudy blue skies on a light ENE>3 with some sunshine.
Sunset this evening was blanked by a bank of low cloud covering the sun before it got to the horizon, this cloud will probably develop into fog again overnight.

A ride around Old Guy Rd at lunchtime saw a steady flow of LBB gulls all >SE as well as a few Swallows whilst the large numbers of Meadow Pipits from last week had gone.
The grass cutters were out in force on the cricket pitch so no birds there.
A single Wheatear was on a distant wall opposite Micklemoss farm.
BS

Swalesmoor, p.m.

                       1 of 2 very distant Buzzard

Went to my watch point on Swalesmoor late afternoon hoping for a repeat of yesterdays aerial display but this time overhead, wrong again.
All was quiet in the stiff E>5  till eventually all the corvids went up and 2 Buzzards could be seen but near to the ski slope. Next decision was, stay put and hope they come back my way or scramble back to the car and drive on Swalesmoor. With time running out I decided on the latter, wrong again.
By the time I got to the other end of Swalesmoor the whole shebang was heading back towards where I had come from and as the corvids gave up and headed back for Ringby Top the 2 Buzzards drifted right over my watch point before crossing over the Halifax Rd and disappearing over Oats Royd, so the nearest I got for a shot was once again about 1 mile away.
If anyone has any decisions they want making don,t ask me , although I should,nt grumble , to actually have Buzzards around Queensbury is unbelievable.

Below are a couple of Wheatear shots taken and sent in by Tracy Collier over Ovenden moor today,
Thanks for those Tracy.

  Length of the legs and breast colour puts it a good
 candidate for a Greenland to me.

                                                Both photos courtesy TC
BS

Fly Flatts

            A welcome guest, drake Common Scoter

              Plenty Snipe moving through >E

       Canadas high and >E

                 Cormorant high and >E

        Unusual visitor, f Tufted

A decent morning both weather wise and bird wise with a cool E>4, low cloud with slight mist and drizzle.
Birds were moving well until 0800 when the skies started to brighten slightly.
A drake Common Scoter was on the water though as usual remained way out in the centre along with a female Tufted duck.
DJSs Whinchat was briefly on the wall by the farm and a real surprise in the same area was a Green Woodpecker on a fence post which unfortunately was too quick for me with the camera as it saw me as soon as I saw it, so it quickly headed >E low over the moor between the turbines.

Vis Mig
16 Snipe.........................>E
1 Cormorant..................>E
7 Canada geese .............>E
380 Meadow Pipits.......>S
32 Swallow...................>SW
2 Wheatear.....................Blogging
1 Whinchat....................Blogging
1 Green Woodpecker ...Blogging then >E

Present
1f Tufted
1m Common Scoter
11 Canada geese
sev  Red Grouse
1 Kestrel
All last weeks Meadow Pipits now gone.
BS

Ringby Top from Shibden Head

                                      Sparrowhawk gliding above the trees

      Spied something it fancied below

                                       Dropped like a rocket into the canopy

  Must have gone into the tree tops at 50 mph.

                                       Along comes a Buzzard

                   Not a very happy one at being mobbed

               Kestrel left, Buzzard centre, Corvid right.

  The 2 dark birds over the chimney and to the right
              were Raven

             Heavy mobbing, 2 Raven and a Kes in that lot.
                        All photos about 1 mile away..

With one hour spare late afternoon I had to decide between Ogden, Ringby or Shibden Head so for a change and to check out a previous years Redstart area I plumped for Shibden Head, bad decision.
With no sign of Redstart, or anything else for that matter , and me not getting excited with woodland birding I got to a open area where I could see plenty open sky,thats the real me.

It soon became apparent that all the action was taking place about a mile away over the Swalesmoor Ringby area, so there was I down the bottom of Shibden Valley watching and photographing birds a mile above and to the west of me and in poor light.

First over were 2 Sparrowhawks gliding around very high and being mobbed with the Ringby corvids till suddenly 1 bird dived down at an amazing speed straight into the top of the tree canopy with the second bird following slowly behind not emerging for another 15 minutes.

Shortly after that all the corvids were up again and the familiar cronking of Ravens could be heard with 2 birds over from the ski slope area across Swalesmoor getting mobbed by around 100 corvids.

Next in line for a good mobbing , this time with corvids, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel ,was a single Buzzard which kept showing briefly before landing in trees below Swalesmoor and moving on tree to tree towards the ski slope.
100s of Swallows overhead.

An entertaining hour but how I wish I,d have been up at my watchpoint on Swalesmoor, but then I suppose the action would have been down in the valley, but thats birding.
BS

Queensbury North then South

                                           Green Lane

                                The Jackdaw roost wall , top of Shibden.

      Corporal Hill top towards Ringby

       Queensbury school and church from Corporal Lane

  Black Dyke Mill from Corporal Lane

Red kite over the house
NK on his way back from Soil Hill.

A grey morning with slight mist looking good for movement but not to be.
A pre work visit to Old Guy Rd found the usual Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Starlings on the cricket pitch and a Wheatear and a Mistle Thrush on the wall.

A skim around Green Lane, Corporal Hill at lunch time produced a few small gulls and Lapwings, whilst a good flock of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet is beginning to build around the thistle tops in the horse field, Green Lane.
2 Kestrels were up together and 4 Pied Wagtails were on the muck heap at the top of Corporal Hill.
BS

Queensbury today

                                Last of the sun over Foxhill park

                                           Going down

Thick fog put paid to any vis mig this morning up here in the gods though by mid morning most of it had burnt off leaving it hazy to the east.
Good to hear that raptors are on the move with a Marsh Harrier reported today over Fly Flatts heading >SSW ( BV ) see BOG report.
This coincides with Sundays Buzzard through and several more raptor reports around the area.

Lunchtime at Foxhill saw 4 Mistle Thrush >W and 4 Meadow Pipits. >SW along with the usual family of Pied Wagtails on the pitch.
Large numbers of small gulls are in the park each morning now around 0545 before any disturbance starts with a count today of 73, mainly Common.
Watch out for Pinkies this weekend, they,re starting to move now.
BS

Out and about

                   Plenty Pied Wagtails around

                         Little Owl on watch

            Over a hazy Shibden Valley to Ringby

            Good flock of Linnets around the old reservoir

          Sun going down over the old underground reservoir

                                   Last sun, Foxhill park

A dinner time dash around Queensbury south found 1 Little Owl, 7 Pied Wagtails, 15 Greenfinch,
9 Lapwing and around 40 small gulls.
Fields this evening beyond Fleet Lane held a nice but distant flock of around 30 Linnets, another 8 Pied Wagtails, 3 Swallows and the usual corvids.
No sign of vis mig this a.m. which seems to have been put on hold due to the hot stuff.
BS