Mixenden

                         28 Canadas leaving Mixenden

                                    Heading off towards Ogden.

                                   

                 1m   2f Goldeneye on the water

Back to reality today after a real spring like day yesterday, and today , sub zero temperatures and freezing fog on a face biting SE>4.
Mixenden reservoir was understandably much quieter on the small passerines with just 4 Siskins on the roadside Alders and 2 Goldcrest in the west bank waterside trees.
The water held 28 Canada geese which were very pre roost noisy and fidgety and soon headed off towards Ogden whilst 1 male and 2 female Goldeneye drifted about in the centre along with around 100 small gulls, 75% being Commons.
                                                               Misty skies overhead but a flock of 28 Fieldfare came over in the mist heading >N also towards Ogden.

Unusual to see a Grey Wagtail at lunch time as I walked home from work up Chapel Lane flushing it from the roadside.
BS

Some days are absolute diamonds.

                                        Ogden Sparrowhawk

                                 Here comes that pesky Crow

                                          Formation flying.

                                   Common gull moving in.

            And here comes the grand finale.

                                                       79 Pink Footed Geese

                 Always a noisy one, 2nd down.

        Just need to check through now for a White Fronted

At last, a bright clear day with solid blue skies and sunshine start to finish on a light SW>4

A good omen when returning home from an after dinner shopping spree up Pellon Lane when around 6 Waxwings dropped out of trees into a yellow berried bush as we were waiting at the lights to get onto the Burdock Way roundabout. The bush is at the side of the Panto advertising bill boards by the slip road for Ovenden in front of the police HQ.
                                                                        1430 hrs and after a report from AH this morning picking up Brambling calls at Ogden near the info centre I thought I,d better check it out despite knowing that it would be busy with the good weather, which it was.
Luckily a car pulled out of the full car park so I got parked up nicely. The top 2 car parks are usually quiet but you dare,nt park there unless you are a member of Autoglass.
                                                                         The water was disappointing once again with around 50 small gulls and the usual Mallards whilst a walk around the perimeter only produced a few small passerines with no sign of Brambling or Chaffinch.  Around 7 Goldcrests and the usual Robins, Wrens and Tits were present but again not a Long Tailed Tit in sight, whats happened to them ?
Strange calls from the gulls suddenly spelt out raptor as a Sparrowhawk appeared overhead harassed by a Common gull and then a Crow which moved it on out of sight over the plantation.
                                                                    A last stop on the promenade for a couple of  the now getting boring Kingfisher in the sluice gate area then head back to the car. As I passed the info centre a text from Top Man Peter Turner, my lookout near Shelf Moor, reporting Pinkies over Shelf.
I expected them to be moving the usual >NW at this time of year so a quick dash back to the prom where I was sure they had to be heading for me. 15 minutes to go before the car park gate was locked so I hoped they were flying flat out. Minutes later there they were in the distance heading NW towards the lodge house so just time to get the grapevine texts out before I started snapping.
A Skein of around 80 geese which kept splitting into 2 groups as they drew nearer. As they were starting to cross above the golf course they amazingly, for some unknown reason, suddenly turned to fly over the water and head off >NE.
Once again many thanks to Peter Turner , but for his text Id have been in the car and missed them by 5 minutes.
It was now 1555 hrs so a panic dash to get the car out before locked gates but it would have been worth paying the £60 release fee for and amazing hour at Ogden.
Great news on the daylight too as I was out still washing the car at 1700 hrs in daylight.
BS

Back to Soil Hill

With DJS not seeming to latch on to the exchange system he headed back to Mixenden whilst I got left with a windy, misty, drizzly Soil Hill. To be fair, Dave also checked Ringby which can be as bad as Soil Hill.
1500 hrs on the hill with the top of the mast hidden by fog but the brisk WSW>4 kept the horizontal visibility clear with a coating of light drizzle.
                                                                   A single Skylark was on the first batch of Nyjer with another 2 on the second batch and a 4th Skylark on the western summit, whilst 1 pair of Reed Bunting were flitting around the east summit.
Just 4 Mallard on the NK pond with the Teal moved on whilst around a dozen Meadow Pipits were in the field above the tree line. A cock Pheasant flew from the trees down to the excavation area and 2 Wrens were in and out of the wall above the tree line with a third Wren near the mast.
                                                              A flock of birds flew overhead in the mist out of sight but sounded very Siskiny , possibly the group from down in the Alders on the north slope.
No sign of any Lapwing today, either near the Raggalds or Queensbury south.
BS

Exchange day. Lucky for me as Mixenden was buzzing.

             Bad light but a few Siskin shots

               Small gulls along the banking

                                                    Goldeneye

  Goldeneye are like buses, non then they all
                              come at once.

                                       1 male 5 female.

                         1 of 3 male Bullfinch

Exchange day today with DJS checking out Soil Hill whilst I checked out Mixenden. Poor Dave got the wrong end of the stick on a quiet hill whilst Mixenden was buzzing. Think we,ll stick to this arrangement Dave.!
A cracking morning up here in the gods with blue skies and wall to wall sunshine whilst most below us were suffering fog. That all changed at midday and by the time I arrived at Mixenden around 1430 hrs the skies were grey with light rain then heavy drizzle.
                                                                                  Despite the conditions Mixenden was buzzing with a start off of around 30 Siskin in the roadside Alders reported by DJS yesterday though very hard to pick out silhouetted against the dark skies and even worse to photograph.
The water held an amazing 1m and 5 f Goldeneye along with 7 Mallard.
                                                                   Nothing special gull wise with around 50 smalls on the banking and water but 5 Herrings over was pleasing.
In the west bank waterside trees Goldcrests were active along with 3 m Bullfinch and a couple more Siskin. All this , along with a Cormorant, Sparrowhawk, Grey Wagtail and Pied Wagtail made a pleasant hours birding.

5f 1m Goldeneye
7 Mallard
c50 Small gulls
5 Herring gull.....................>SW
1 Cormorant......................>W
1 Pied Wagtail
1 Grey Wagtail
3m Bullfinch
6 Goldcrest
c30 Siskin
1 Sparrowhawk
BS
Note..... Just received an e mail from blog watcher Will Griffin reporting 18 Waxwing in a Sycamore tree by Greenhead College , Greenhead Rd, Huddersfield at 1300 hrs yesterday.
Thanks for that Will.
BS

Fogged Off yet again !

Didnt get back until 1515 hrs after grand daughter duties with the weather miserable with light snow and murky skies.
Just time to get up to Soil Hill for a quick check of the seed to see if anything new had dropped in but as I arrived at the top of Perseverance Road the fog had got there before me with a few yards visibility and with no time before darkness to go anywhere else it was a quick divert down Taylor Lane and home. The Lapwing flock was over the Raggalds with a count of around 80 but no Golden Plover present whilst a Sparrowhawk whistled across the front of the car by Foxhill school.
See what tomorrow brings, hopefully not fog.
BS

Ogden early a.m.

                  Cormorants on the move 3 >NW

   The Saxony SE Germany BH Gull

                                Kingfisher in the sluice gate area

Ogden 0800-1000 hrs.
An icy 0 deg but bright start and lighter a little earlier with sun struggling to break through but the hazy mist soon rolled back in quietening the sky movement which looked as if it was going to be active.  Part of the water was frozen over.
                                                                   First light saw a good move of very high Herring gulls >W and LBB gulls >NW along with 3 Cormorant >NW but this was soon stopped as the cloud thickened.
A bit livelier on passerines around the perimeter of the water but still very dark in the trees so nothing special picked out.
Again disappointing on the water with around 50 small gulls, with one of the Black Headed being a ringed bird from Saxony, SE Germany previously seen at this site  25/11/16,  19/12/16 and 23/12/16 with details being followed up thanks to NK.
Otherwise it was just Mallard on the water with a new pure white duck appeared which can be deceiving when out in the middle.
The Kingfisher was firstly seen below the west bank where it spends most of its time now, which is encouraging , then back down in the sluice gate area.

1 Kingfisher
1 Green Woodpecker
11 Goldfinch
6 Wrens
4 Robins
3 Cormorant...................>NW
9 Herring gull................>W
38 LBB.........................>NW
+ usual sp.
BS

Birds in the fog, Soil Hill

                 3 Skylarks disappearing into the mist

                                      2 Male Reed Buntings
                              The female was nearby.

                                   Peering through the gloom at distance
                        1pr Teal on the NK pond.

   2 of another 3 Teal very mobile.

                                  Moorhen, NK pond
                     Excuse all grim photos in the dark and foggy skies.

1500 hrs and off to Soil Hill to top up the Nyjer seed that seems to be working well.
Poor conditions with mist and heavy drizzle soon turning to fog.
                                                                           As I approached the first feeding area 3 Skylarks were present whilst at the second feeding area 2m 1f Reed Buntings were on the seed which seems to be doing a good job.
Before I could finish my circuit the fog closed in cutting visibility to a few yards so I took the opportunity to go down the north slope to check out the bottom ponds where visibility was much better but still very dark and wet. 4 Siskins were flitting about in the lower Alders whilst a pair of Teal were on the NK pond with another 2m and 1f flushed from the newly dug pond flying across to land near the red body.
                                  As I got back up to the west summit the fog had again lifted allowing me to continue my circuit which produced Meadow Pipits, Wrens and Robin with 8 Fieldfare low overhead.
At last the hill seems to be coming back to life with the unusual ending to the report with a list of sightings.

3m  2f Teal
1 Moorhen
4 Siskin
3 Skylark
2m  1f Reed Bunting
10 Meadow Pipit
2 Wrens
1 Robin
8 Fieldfare.
BS