Foxhill gull snapping

                  Foxhill Common gulls

  Winter plumage speckles showing now

                                       Black Headed in full winter plumage.

                                   Canon 7d 420mm

Took the camera on the dinner time dog walk in Foxhill park just to get the cobwebs off it from lack of use . Several gulls around with 24 Common and 18 Black Headed , the first light count of Commons in the park is now at around 70 which is average for this time of year.
A strong westerly was blowing threatening rain by tomorrow and hopefully wafting so Pinkies our way instead of sticking to the west of the country.
Whooper Swans are now on their way down from Iceland so keep an eye on your local reservoirs.
The conditions this morning were perfect for a Fieldfare invasion but this never materialized and had to make do with a few flocks of now established Redwings moving around in no certain direction.
The only movers first light were around a dozen late Meadow Pipits >S.
BS

One of those quiet Mondays

Scenes of autumnal Ogden 2013

     How we need the water level now

   An inviting expanse of water

                              Carpet of leaves

                               Reflections

                                        First light

Yesterday at Ogden 4 separate people asked me where all the water had gone for which I had no answer. With all other reservoirs brimming I can,t see it being down to a lack of rain so maybe its being dropped for maintenance work to be done ? All I know is that this level if fine for waders even though Ogden had never picked up many in the past due to being surrounded with trees which the birds don,t like dropping down into making them feel trapped, or so I,m told.
In any case , the waders have gone now and we badly need the level of water up to pick up the winter waterfowl .
Passerine alley is also suffering due to the low water which is well away from the Willows taking the midges away which the passerines thrive on. When the water is up under the Willow trees large shoals of midges can be seen above the water which in turn attracts the birds.
I suppose us birders would never be happy unless we could alter the water level as we need it for each season.

I suppose you guessed, after all this dribble, that birding has been quiet around the area today.
After a very foggy, Sunday morning type start, the skies cleared by 1030 hrs leaving the rest of the day bright and clear although the skies remained empty.
Once again Pink Footed geese slipped by us keeping to the west of the country with the Manchester vis miggers again enjoying several large skeins.
DJS had Golden Plover moving over Fly Flatts whilst NK clocked a fresh in drake Wigeon at Ogden which was not there yesterday when I checked through all the Mallards mainly out of boredom.
BS

Ogden Revisited p.m.

                                  Plenty Common gulls present

       Tit flock numbers down.   Great tit.

                  Robin in the watering hole

                                          2 Fly over Cormorants

                                            Pheasant, Ned Hill

With the fog gone late afternoon and the Christmas shopping out of the way, for now, it was back to Ogden with a low expectancy which was just as well. Thats the problem with birding a local patch, you,ve to stick at it no matter what even though you,ve a good idea that its going to be poor because one of these visits will produce and make all the dips worthwhile. On this occasion it didnt.
The conditions were ideal with the cold NW dropped to calm with 100 % cloud cover.
The water was as this morning apart from several more gulls, mainly Commons with just 3 LBBs.
I spent 1 hour in passerine alley in the thought that if anything was there I,d get it.
Tit flocks were down with a few Great , Blue and Coal but no Long Tailed although with the amount of public around earlier in the afternoon most passerines would have headed deeper into the plantation.
Just 2 Goldcrests along with 5 Wrens, 3 Robins and 8 Dunnocks, otherwise it was down to the Chaffinch flock with a count now of around 40 birds, mainly females.
The flock were flitting to and from the Willows to feed in the vegetation on the banking but very mobile.
I checked through the flock each time they dropped onto the banking with hopes of Siskin, Redpoll or Brambling but can safely say none other than Chaffinch were present.
4 Cormorant were still present on and around the water whilst 2 flew over heading >E.

Again no Pinkies for us but several moving over Manchester way to the west of us. The only local skein today was 110 >W over Northowram courtesy AC who also had good numbers of Redwing whereas I had around 60 coming out of trees at Foxhill midday when the fog lifted.

HC got the bird of the day, again with persistence of his watch point at Oxenhope, when a Great Grey Shrike flew over at 1400 hrs, well spotted Compo, you make me sick !
BS

Oh no , its happened again, FOG !

               As good as it got, 2 of 4 Cormorant

                            Boredom setting in.  A Tree.

Unbelievably the 7th of  9 vis mig watch Sunday mornings fogged off.
Back to Ogden which was just below the cloud base with no visibility above the tree tops and heavy drizzle turning to rain.
4 Cormorant by the water was the highlight with only 12 small gulls and no Canadas.
Passerines were limited to a few tits and the Chaffinch flock which,being the only thing to watch , gave me time to check for Siskin or Brambling but not to be.
Only 2 Goldcrests seem along with 3 Wrens.
DCB and HC were also fogged off and dropped down into Oxenhope but things there were quiet hence the 30 minute phone conversation we had to pass on the morning, great to talk to you both.
HC described the fog as, " Like the tentacles of death hugging his body ", one of the late Tony Goughs sayings.
BS

Ogden, late afternoon

                      More than average Canadas, 29 present

 Gulls scrapping for a morsel, Crow joins in

                    A mish mash of gulls

  Pics of Passerine Alley for Mark Brookes who
        was asking me its whereabouts

                                    It dont get better than this

                                        And still poor on birds.

A tea time visit to Ogden found it very quiet in the cold NE>4 with very few passerines showing. The Chaffinch flock was mobile along with tit flocks but no Goldcrests or Siskin.
The water held 29 Canadas which is a good count for here along with 1 Cormorant and the usual gulls pre roost. Whilst checking Passerine Alley a Herring gull came in and landed on the water so it was a dash from east to west to check it out for a Yellow Legged , although it is late to get one now.
When I was 3 parts across the promenade and starting to flag the bird took off and headed for Oxenhope, Yellow Legged ? we,ll never know.
Otherwise all was quiet even though conditions are perfect for grazing Wigeon and geese seeing as we,ve missed the waders.

Only one report of Pinkies today from Matthew Broadbent with 15 over Scammonden p.m.
Watch for the Sunday morning fog tomorrow !!
BS

More Redwings and a few Fieldfare

A deteriorating day with a grey drab start turning to drizzle and low scud clouds blown in on an E>4 my midday.Late afternoon was a little brighter.
Several good size flocks of Redwing came over high and >W first light along with 3 smaller flocks of Fieldfare totalling around 240 Redwing and 18 Fieldfare.
Lunchtime in Foxhill park produced 9 bounce back Redwings heading >E into the wind whilst
4 Alba Wagtails headed >W.
With these winds and cloud and going by the BTO blog we could be in for an interesting weekend, fog permitting.
A bit of a shake up this morning which broke a dull morning at work when NK called me with an interesting duck right out in the middle of the water at Ogden.
With poor light and no scope Nigel knew the duck could have been one of a few species not common to Ogden so I put it out on the grapevine to see if any scoped up birders were local.
Luckily DJS was at Swalesmoor and dashed over there by which time the bird had been driven nearer the shore by a gull and was identified as a female Teal by NK.
Nigel later text me apologies for the Teal for which there was no need. Anyone finding themselves in such a situation thinking there is chance of the bird being rare to our area should immediately call for the cavalry to see if any help is nearby. Better to be sure than let a mega slip by.
Well spotted in the first place to NK and thanks to DJS for the fast response.
Have an interesting weekend.
BS

Redwings and my first Fieldfares this season

Woodpigeons were again the first early starters with around 60 >S but small groups. Another week or so and they should be piling over in flocks of  well over the 100.
Bounce back Redwings were showing again but in much smaller numbers than yesterday with around 100 all >E and >NE.
On the way home at lunch time a flock of 15 chacking Fieldfare came over Chapel Lane reasonably high and >SW.
Foxhill Park at midday produced 4 Redwing and a Mistle Thrush >W whilst 2 Pied Wagtails were on the football pitch.
Any chance of evening birding for me has now gone down the spout due to lack of daylight.
No reports of Pinkies today, though Manchester have been getting them over, and no local grapevine or Oxenhope reports.
BS

Redwing Invasion and another Pinkie near miss.

The first birds over this morning as I set off for work were Redwings and this continued until 0930 hrs when the move over the garage stopped. Around 800 counted, all being bounce back birds heading east.  The Oxenhope lads clocked over 10,000 Redwing this morning, at last some good numbers.
Also moving this a.m. were Woodpigeons but only around 30 first light all >S.
All quiet at lunchtime in Foxhill park then another near miss with Pinkies this afternoon. Yesterday afternoon Pinkies were moving to the east of me heading east and this afternoon Pinkies were to the west of me heading west. Todays birds were spotted over Shibden valley by PS, text sent via grapevine.
BS

Dinner time Dailies dash and a near miss with the Pinkies.

  Looking down the Dailies to Queensbury triangular
  railway station. The triangle where the tracks went
can be seen by the trees.
Tracks to Clayton, Thornton and Holmefield.

    East over the station to beyond Pateley Bridge.

                  Looking over smoky Bradford.

   This very pale, well speckled Staring had me going .

 It stood out from the rest even with no optics

The overnight frost and cold east wind livened things up slightly today with around 80 Woodpigeons over >S first light along with a smidging of Mipits and 3 Skylark.
Dinner time in Foxhill park produced 2 Cormorant over high and >N and a single Jay high and >W.
With high expectations of Pinkies to the east I dashed to the top of the Dailies only to find several LBB gulls heading >N up the air valley but 3 hours later a text from HC reported 130 Pinkies over Yeadon airport >E, just where I had been watching earlier.
Thanks for the text Compo.
BS

Monday + Work = No Fog !

A typical Monday morning, back at work and no sign of fog.
A record count of 72 Common gulls were in Foxhill park this morning first light but these soon dispersed when the early dog walkers started to arrive.
A trickle of Meadow Pipits headed over south and a count of 9 Redwing flew over >W throughout the day. The first of the Woodpigeons started coming over >S.
Otherwise all was quiet with no grapevine or Oxenhope watch point reports.
Its looking like we have missed the Meadow Pipit surge this year so the next on the list now is a push of Redwings and Fieldfares and the last in the move, Woodpigeons which usually come over in their hundreds near the end of the month. After that its geese and Whooper Swans and hopefully a Bewick or two. Well you,ve got to keep optimistic have,nt you.
BS

Ringby Top flop

With a NE>4 and 90% cloud cover a late afternoon visit to Ringby seemed like a good idea at the time in the hope of winter thrushes or geese taking advantage of a tail wind, no such luck.
With 1 hours watch 360 degrees and around a 30 mile radius the skies were empty with just a few LBB gulls and the usual corvids.
Passerine wise, a check around the shrubs and hedges produced 6 Linnet and 2 Meadow Pipits.
This has got to be the worst ever September/ October when we should be wall to wall with birds but instead getting nothing, there must be some explanation but just what, I don,t know.?
BS

Fly Flatts Fogged off, 1st reserve, Ogden

                         Teal through the mist

                                   Grey Wagtail

Since I started this seasons visible migration at the end of August all but 2 Sunday mornings have been fogged off, this morning being another one.
Back down at Ogden in the mist 3 Teal were present but very mobile along with 4 Cormorant on the water and around 40 small gulls.
The Chaffinch flock was up to around 40 but again mobile around the outskirts of the water but no sign of the Goldcrests.
Several tits around including Long Tailed whilst a Green Woodpecker was calling and 2 Nuthatch were around the feeders.
By 0900 hrs Redwing were coming over >NE with a total count of 86 high up in the mist whilst HC at Oxenhope sounded to be getting considerably more.
BS