A Tern for the better

A good Tern movement day today starting with 2 Blacks at Oxenhope, vis mig blog, then two terns at Ogden this p.m. Again the founder was the sutcliffe team who kindly called me so I could alert NK who fortunately was on his way to Soil Hill. After about 10 texts and 15 phone calls later the birds were still there but an argument was brewing as to their i.d.

After gulping down my tea I shot to Ogden to find the birds still there but in well fading light, hence the naf photo, and that was the best one.

I binned the two for a minute then took some photos as I always do in case they leave but as I was setting up the scope a Sparrowhawk glided along the banking putting everything up, this was about 1840hrs. The gulls settled in the middle of the water but the Terns were gone not to return. I rang DCB at Oxenhope in case they came in there but he was in the same mind as me that they would be well on their way.

Poor Bruce turned up a few minutes later and I had to break the bad news to him.

I have,nt seen anyones photos yet or consulted the book but the impression I got from the few minutes I binned them was 2 Arctic Terns.

Was going to shut the garage doors today with a note saying

                         SORRY CLOSED. HAVING A FUNNY TERN.

BS

Osprey Watch/ Ned Hill

Some Swallows still coming through.

Withens Gap through the haze from Ned Hill

Ned Hill watchpoint >NW towards TMR.

Ned Hill/ Soil Hill  1600-1700hrs  strong W>5, Bright.

Spent 1 hour here in the hope of an Osprey sneaking through but not to be. Swallows were still moving but in low numbers and the only other birds of note in the sky were LBBs and Common Gull as well as the usual corvids.

The summit of Soil Hill was alive with Meadow Pipits scratting about in the rubble where the scrapes used  to be but there were no sign of this mornings 6 Greylag geese that landed up there (DCB) mid morning.

BS

A taste of Vis Mig

Scud coming over the moor, Fly Flatts

A very active clough, Hunter Hill

Still juv Mipits about.

Fly Flatts  0730-0815hrs  Heavy drizzle and low cloud moving over from the west.   NW>5

Some early movement before the worst of the drizzle but deteriorated with scud creeping in from the west so moved on after a short watch.

171 Meadow Pipit........................>W

96 Swallow..................................>W

2 Snipe........................................>W

19 Starling .................................>W

13 Chaffinch...............................>W

2 Alba Wagtail...........................>SW

Hunter Hill   0830-1000hrs   Bright with some dark clouds, dry, NW>3

A different story here with Mipits and Swallows constantly moving through mostly >W but later turning >S.

Chaffinch were piling out of the clough along with a Tree Pipit and a Spotted Flycatcher was down in the bottom of the ravine. A flock of Siskin over was a nice sighting, these also looked to come out of the clough.

213 Meadow Pipit..........................>W then >S
132 Swallow..................................>W
72 Chaffinch..................................>W
1 Gt Spotted Wdpecker................>W
1 Spotted Fly...............................in tree
1 Tree Pipit...................................>W
2 Jay.............................................>W
7 Siskin.........................................>SW

Total mornings Meadow Pipits......................384
Total mornings Swallows...........................228
BS

Starlings Hit Queensbury

                                     A fall of Starlings.

Queensbury was over run with Starlings this morning which looked like masses of migrant birds moved in or
birds flocking ready to move out. One lady from Shelf Moor rang to say she had about 200 in the bushes in her back garden. Shelf Moor this evening had c300 in the Hawthorn field with 13 Mistle Thrushes mixed in.
Foxhill this lunch time held 14 Common Gull.
Is the vis mig going to excel itself in the morning ?
BS

Poor weather means better birding.

Common Gull

A rainy drizzly day with a slight SW which perked the birds up no end. A scattering of Meadow Pipits went over >S early a.m. with c80 BH gulls also >S but unsure as to whether these were movers or leaving a roost,thats the problem with gulls at this time of year so after August I tend to exclude them from my vis mig count .

Foxhill park at lunchtime held 14 Common Gulls, 3 Pied Wagtails and 4 Meadow Pipits with several Swallows feeding below the trees.

This evening a single Curlew flew high over Foxhill >NW which looked to be heading for TMR.

Great observations today from eagle eyed Dave and Jen Sutcliffe for picking out an ad Med Gull at Ogden in terrible conditions, well done you two and thanks for the call which reminded me that there is life outside of the garage.  

BS

Evening Skies

Sunset, Wilsden towards Thornton Moor

Sunset, Wilsden towards the Arc

Evening sky over Foxhill

A brighter day today but very little in the way of movement apart from a few south heading swallows.

Several Swallows were on the move around the Wilsden area this evening but on my return journey at 2000hrs the daylight had gone and the only things in flight were several Pipestrelle bats over the trees.

Hopefully a good weekend will see the real start of vis mig.

BS

Another Foggy morning

Once again Queensbury was blanked out by the dreaded fog this morning and just as the sun started to burn its way through the fog got even thicker and the day stayed misty until late afternoon, one of the hazards of living at the top of the hill.
A bright evening followed but I was grounded, decorating the bathroom, no sense of priorities these women.
When I eventually escaped to go dog walking a few Swallows were over Foxhill heading >S and the jackdaw roost were racing >N to get a good position for the night.
A single Kestrel hovered over the fields which was a pleasing sight as we now seem to get more Sparrowhawk sightings than Kestrels.
How these nights are drawing in, 2000hrs and almost dark, 6 months of dark evenings, what an awful thought..yuk
Now Ive cheered you all up I,ll go.
BS

In search of the Ospreys

South over Ogden golf course

Sunset at Ogden

Thinking it was an ideal evening for a moving Osprey with a light southerly breeze, showers and clear skies I skived off my chores and walked from Ogden to the Withens where I was proved wrong. At least I got the moving bit right with Black Terns showing up in the area, just got the species and location wrong. Never the less it was a good walk and Swallows were piling through the Withens Gap, that was until a fighter jet come steaming through and after that I never saw another Swallow. Jays were plentiful but they were local birds and Woodpigeons were coming from all directions to roost in the plantation.

The water held the usual Common and Black Headeds as well as 4 LBBs and a Gt Crested Grebe was curled up asleep in the centre.BS

By this time cars were rolling in to the area so I thought it was time I left  before they started handing out the wakky baccer.

Movers :-

127 Swallow..............................>S

BS

A bit of a quiet do

Empty skies this morning in the strong SE>5 with no signs of visible migration. By mid day swallows were heading through >S but only in small numbers up to yesterdays count. There must have been an early first light Meadow Pipit movement going by NKs report with yesterday afternoons large number of Mipits gone from Soil Hil today.
The jackdaws that go >N over Queensbury every evening to roost at Hewenden and Wilsden are now coming over earlier at around 1900hrs. They have now grown in numbers to about 250 strong, and to think that when I started birding a local Jackdaw was a mega tick and we used to be amazed to see such numbers to the north of Skipton.
 PS. May be able to bird instead of work soon as I have just been told by e mail that I have won yet another 1 million pound prize ,this time from British tobacco promotions, lucky me ! wonder if anyone ever believes these toss pots.
BS

Soil Hill/ Ned Hill/Causeway Foot Col.

Causway Foot Col from Ned Hill

                                                     Air Ambulance in action

Soil Hill was alive with birds on the new sown area to the east of the hill.Around 150 Meadow Pipits, 8 Skylark,3 Pied Wagtails and oddly 2 Dunnocks were scratting about on the soil,could be worth keeping a look out here. A flock of 33 Linnet were very mobile
1 hours watching from the Ned Hill track over the Causeway Foot col produced hirundines still pouring through.

Movers :-
193 Swallows...............................>S
14 House Martin..........................>S
3 Sand Martin.............................>S
1 Hobby like raptor over Hunter Hill but too hazy to i.d.
BS

Fly Flatts/ Hunter Hill

The Nab, Fly Flatts

Soil Hill from Hunter Hill

Queensbury from Hunter Hill

Fly Flatts.  0730-0930hrs  Cold SE>5  cloudy with some sun. Damping in the wind.

A hard work morning with birds to search for in the strong wind. Birds on the ground and on the water were near non existant but some movement kept the interest going. Swallows were the bird of the morning moving up the Paul Clough valley and coming through low in the shelter of the Nab all south. A mid morning move to Hunter Hill found better conditions with the wind down to SE>3 and still Swallows coming through with a few House Martins mixed in. DCB was missing the Swallows at his side of the hill but he pipped me by getting a couple of Swift.

Movers :-

FLY FLATTS

83 Swallow..................................... >S

48 Meadow Pipit............................ >S  The first south movement this autumn

2 Jay............................................ >W

4 Alba Wagtail.............................. >W

1 Grey Wagtail.............................. >W

HUNTER HILL  0930-1030hrs

1 Tree Pipit................................>SW

69 Swallow..............................>S

11 Meadow Pipit.....................>S

1 Curlew.................................>W

9 House Martin........................>S

3 Wheatear.............................on deck

Other... c45 Goldfinch flock

BS

A misty morn.

Sun burning through the mist early a.m.

Influx of Canada geese at Shelf Moor pond

This tells a story, garage neighbour Dave stock piling

logs ready for another Queensbury winter.

A quiet morning with the mist hanging around building height with blue skies above.

The only birds of note were Swallows very high in the clear blue sky all >S.

Shelf Moor pond this evening held 43 Canada Geese and 2 Moorhen, the maximum count for Canadas here is usually 12 so these look like moving birds or breeders and young dispersing.

Several Swallows were blogging but there were no sign of the Lapwing flock.

BS

Queensbury Today

 Ollie not amused after a wet birding trip to Ogden on Sunday.                              

Slight movement showing this a.m. as the mist lifted with Meadow Pipits moving through in 2s and 3s. Several Swallows headed >SW and a single Cormorant went over the garage mid morning very high and >NW. Raptor movement seems to have stopped for the moment and hopefully Ospreys will be the next through.
6 Common Gull and 2 BH gulls were in Foxhill Park at lunchtime and 3 LBBs headed >N.

Meadow Pipits.............................18 >W
Swallow.......................................23 >SW
Cormorant...................................1 >NW
BS

Yellow Legged or LBB ?

This is the gull in question at Ogden though the photos were distant and in heavy rain. I took these Sunday morning and pondered on Yellow Legged finally passing it off as LBB. On looking at the photos it has the head of a YL although the mantle is slightly darker . NK also had a bird he described as YL during the week which is possibly the same bird.

Looking at the photos now I would tend to go for Yellow Legged.

Thanks for the sun dog/halo info DCB.

BS

Mysterious Skies,Halos and Sun Dogs

The Topsy Turvy Rainbow taken yesterday evening

Photos courtesy David Marshall, Qby.

Sun Dog over Foxhill yesterday evening.  BS

Strange skies over Queensbury yesterday evening ,31st. Several sun dogs were showing over Foxhill as the sun was going down and as I got to work this morning David Marshall,who lives next to the garage showed me the inverted rainbow photos that he,d taken on the same evening a little earlier. Perhaps DCB or someone will be able to explain these to us, its a bit out of my depth.

Well done to active birders today with 2 good reports, 5 September Swifts from DJS and a cream crown Marsh Harrier from NK both from the Hunter Hill area.

BS