Queensbury today

Snow on the Dales hilltops from Foxhill.

Over Shipley Glen to Menwith Hill golf balls.

A brighter but cold day with a strong N>5 turning W>3 by late afternoon. Blue skies and heavy freezing after dark.

A gull moving day today with a steady flow of LBBs >NW most of the day with up to 30 Herring gulls sighted at lunch time in the distance looking east in the direction of the photos, the Herrings were moving >WNW.
A single Meadow Pipit along with a Pied Wagtail seemed out of place in Foxhill park and 7 Collared Doves were in nearby trees.
This p.m. 5 Redwings flew over the garage and landed in trees down Station Rd whilst the resident Wren that has been missing for a while re appeared below the Rose Hip bushes.
BS

Ringby Top produces

Cavalry arriving yesterday at Ringby, DJS

Even time to pick up the football results.

The favoured Twite/Reed Bunt tree

A foul windy wet day with only a short period without rain this afternoon.
DJS just missed out on the Linnet flock yesterday when they had gone to ground but his persistence paid off with a second visit today,( see Calderbirds for report), when he got the birds he was after.
The weather conditions are attrocious most of the time up there but there,s something in those fields that attract passerines, even now that the main feeding field is grassed over .
The next few months should prove interesting up there.

Needless to say Ive had a pretty birdless day and the best I could do was half a dozen LBB gulls >W over Foxhill park at lunch time.
BS

Ringby Top

The Seed Man DJS

Skies full of Jackdaws

A cloudy sunset from Ringby Top
1430-1600hrs Icy cold W>5 but water up there remaining unfrozen.

A poor start with no passerines around Ploughcroft and no sign of the Little Owls.
Plenty big gulls moving over Halifax but this soon stopped apart from a late 2 Herring Gulls at nearly 1600hrs.
As I got onto the top feeding field the action started. Firstly I flushed a flock of around 78 Linnets followed by smaller birds which flew into the solitary tree by the track. These turned out to be 5 Twite and 2 pair of Reed Bunting. Also present were Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. The flock of Linnet dropped down into the private field on the other side of the track and due to the late hour these were not re located. Hundreds of Jackdaws came over heading to roost.

11 LBB gull
9 Herring gull
1 GBB gull
c78 Linnet
5 Twite
2 Meadow Pipit
6 Skylark
2pr Reed Bunting
8 Grey Partridge
1Kestrel

BS and DJS.

And still its froze, Ogden

Some signs of starting to thaw

Black Headed

Inquisitive Squirrel

Ogden 0830-1000hrs. Strong W>5 dropping to 3 by 0900hrs. Overnight snow and freezing.
Some signs around the water now of a thaw starting with water around the fringes and some cracks appearing.
All 3 ponds are now clear of ice and the water hole on the reservoir is getting bigger.
Bird wise it was quiet with no passerines in the usual Alders. The only small birds were on the feeders being the usual Gt, Blue and Coal Tits. No Common gulls were present and only a small number of Black Headed but as always patience was rewarded when the Kingfisher called by the northern pond then skimmed low over the icy reservoir and down into the overflow not to be relocated.
Several Fieldfare , Redwing and Woodpigeons were around the Back Lane plantation area.

Fieldfare............................... 42
Redwing.................................28
Woodpig..................................78
Kingfisher...............................1
BH Gull...................................15
+ usual sp.
BS

Shelf Moor

A day of rain and thaw but heavy freezing from late afternoon. The road around Shelf Moor was treacherous with black ice.
Reasonably quiet in the skies but several Fieldfare and Redwings in the fields. A good number of Mistle Thrush were in the holly bushes and 2 Pied Wagtail were by the old Bacon Factory.
Only 4 Lapwing seen in the distance and a small flock of 8 birds flew out of Hawthorns and quickly disappeared across the fields, these were more than likely Linnet but couldnt be certain with the brief glance I got of them.
If anyones interested and only wants small amounts of seed Wilkinsons in Halifax are selling off  1kg bags of Nyger seed at 1.79p a bag which is a lot cheaper than most pet shops. I got plenty bags in stock for the garden and Soil Hill.
The weather so far looks good for tomorrow so lets hope for some good reports.
 Mistle Thrush..........................11
Fieldfare..................................c150
Redwing.................................c 50
Pied Wagtail...........................2
Blackbird...............................7
Lapwing.................................4
Linnet type sp.........................8       not chaffs.
BS

Here we go again

Same view in Foxhill as yesterday but whitewashed

Chapel Lane, snow and fog

Rain turning to ice this evening

So its back to the start with the snow again although the rain was starting to move it until after dark when it froze on landing.
Snow today from 0800hrs until 1500hrs combined with fog making it a birdless day other than the garden feeders packed with Starlings and House Sparrows going mainly for the fat balls and Lyndas oatcakes. Water is usually the biggest problem but today has kept above freezing so that made the job easier.
Hope this weather improves for the weekend, I think the forecast is warmer which usually means fog up here in the gods but we shall see.
Bet the Linnet flocks recorded yesterday have struggled today unless they headed for lower ground. Has anyone else had unusual winter flocks of Linnets?
BS

What a difference half a day made

Foxhill park midday, blue skies and sunshine

Chapel Lane teatime, heavy snow

Just when you think things are brightening up, back comes the snow.
Lunchtime today in the park was like spring with Robins and Dunnocks singing and Collared Doves calling, then by the time I came home at tea time we had a good covering of snow with more heavy showers during the evening.
More heavy snow is forecast for tomorrow and the cold weather could continue through February, so we,re told, but it can,t go on forever and the days are already starting to lengthen so we are going the right way.
A fellow I used to bird with used to say as spring approached, " at least weve 2 summers to 1 winter now".
Some good reports of large Linnet flocks in the area today so that could be a good sign. Linnets on Soil Hill usually stay on late in the year but its unusual to get flocks in January.
BS

A day of mixed weather and few birds

Overnight snow left Queensbury with a light covering this morning which froze over briefly before thawing.
It was a grey morning followed by thick fog at midday which lasted till 1400hrs then a brief period of brightness before the grey skies reappeared.
No winter thrushes on the move today that I could see and, other than the norm, 6 Mallard flew over >S.
The garden at lunch time was packed with House Sparrows and Starlings sampling Lyndas home made fat cakes and oat cakes which I must say look tasty enough to eat ourselves.
A Robin and 2 Dunnocks pecked away at the Nyger seed on the ground, which reminds me, I must take some Nyger up on Soil Hill to try stir a bit of interest. The west slope where the soil meets the heather seems to be the favourite spot and that is where DJS got the last Snow Bunting.
Once the top soil is down it would be an idea to keep chucking some wild flower seeds about to see if anything can be encouraged up there.
After all, it was feeding the birds up there that got me the Purple Sandpiper, if I had,nt gone up to the feeder that evening Id have missed it.
It was nice to get Phil Cunningham in the garage with his car today, thats a good advert to come from Flamborough to the garage. I asked him if he,d like to come back and bird over here instead of living at Flamborough Head and strangely he said no! theres a suprise.
BS

Winter Thrushes over Queensbury.

Several large flocks of mixed Fieldfare and Redwing came over the garage today in various directions. Several seemed to be heading for the Dailie Fields whilst some very high flocks of mainly Fieldfare headed >N towards Soil Hill. This is the first time Ive seen so many winter thrushes at this time of year, even DCB remarked the same after seeing C600 coming into the heather to roost at Oxenhope. It must be the prolonged period of cold weather that has stirred them up and now they,re looking for new feeding grounds.

No sign over the village of the Herring gull movement >W that,s going on at the moment, only small winter resident gulls following the food round.

48 House Sparrows in the garden and on the feeders at lunch time and not a Tree Sparrow amongst them!
BS

Fieldfare Invasion

Masses of Fieldfare and some Redwing

4 seperate groups around the hill.

Soil Hill 1430-1600hrs. Cold SW>4 Cloudy but with sunset. Murky in the distance.

The whole area was alive with Fieldfares, Redwings and Mistle Thrushes with 4 main groups consisting of mainly Fieldfare.
These were very mobile moving around field to field and never staying settled for long.
Otherwise the hill and skies were quiet apart from 6 LBBs which came looking for the roost at TMR but continued >N when they saw the ice.
Checked the area for Snipe or Jack Snipe but the ground is just too frozen.
Several small gulls were passing and landing on the ice at Mixenden res. probably just meeting ready to move on to a roost.
Nice to meet a new face on the hill when I bumped into Jane Uttley who didnt seem too bothered about the cold up there ! , hope you found the Grey Partridge flock you were after Jane, I hadnt seen them at all today, its just a matter of being lucky if you flush them.

c 350 Fieldfare
c 60 Redwing
10 Mistle Thrush
6 LBB gulls.
BS

Hard work at Ogden

1st winter Common Gull

Carrion Crow

Ogden Calm and cold. Full cloud cover. 0800-1000hrs

Very quiet this morning with still no sign of big gulls over and very few passerines, even the Lt tit flocks have disappeared.
Managed to scrape up 2 Siskin fly overs and the Bullfinch were found on the way back by the car park entrance.
A Gt Spotted Wdpecker was in trees by the lodge house and several Fieldfare were in fields along Soil Hill.

1 Gt Spotted Wdpecker
2 Siskin
4 Coal Tits
1 Sparrowhawk
2pr Bullfinch
1 Heron, fly over
40+ Fieldfare
BS

Soil Hill

Soil Hill   1430-1600hrs  Murky in the distance, cloudy, icy cold N>4

Quiet skies apart from a few small gulls and the jackdaws going to roost.
A kestrel glided over followed shortly by a female Sparrowhawk and around 80 corvids were in the shay fields.
This mornings Fieldfare and Redwing flocks had moved and now several were in the lower fields by the main road just above Ogcden lane.
Around 40 Fieldfares flew across Ned Hill top at last light and continued low over Soil Hill.

Nice to meet another lost soul up on the hill in the form of Dave Sutcliffe who kindly shared his Christmas maltesers with me as we chatted about birds past and present.
By 1600 hrs and last light we were both frozen to the bone and called it a day.
Just as I arrived home a Sparrowhawk shot over the gardens and landed on the peak of the roof so I quickly grabbed the camera, leaned out of the car , aimed, and  yes you,ve guessed it, it flew off. Maybe next time.

Great photos of a good garden tick Dave, ( see Calderbirds)
BS

Ogden

A friendly Robin

Several Coal Tits around

Still one water hole

Sunrise over Queensbury from Soil Hill

An icy cold but pleasant morning with a light N>3. The reservoir is still solid apart from the one water hole and the northern end where there is moving water.
Deadly quiet today with very few gulls on the ice and no sign of the usual Bullfinch/ Siskin feeders on the Alders.
A small flock of Goldcrest were working their way around the waters edge and several Coal Tits were on the feeders.
A single m. Goosander flew over >N and a Sparrowhawk was soaring over the golf course.
The highlight this morning were Fieldfare, Redwing and Mistle Thrushes in the fields both along Syke Lane and Soil Hill.
Will try get back there pm to sift through them for goodies.

Ogden
1 m Goosander >N
1 Sparrowhawk
7 Goldcrest
6 Coal Tit
17 Common Gull
28 BH Gull
+ usual Mallard , Blue Tits and Gt Tits.

Syke Lane
c 40 Fieldfare
c 50 Redwing
5 Mistle Thrush

Soil Hill, fields to Perseverence Rd
c60 Fieldfare
c 20 Redwing
2 Mistle Thrush
BS

Littlemoor Park

Area near the houses

Snow falling

Bottom playing fields

Some good habitat

An hour spent at Littlemoor Park mid p.m. in the steadily falling snow following up Denises report of Yellowhammer this morning proved fruitless and I was unable to connect with any good size finch flocks. The few finches around were keeping high moving from one tree top to another. Several tit flocks were feeding but comprised only of Blue and Great. Three Stock doves were a pleasant suprise and several Blackbirds were searching through the leaves. Habitat at the top of the park, a stones throw from Denises house, is ideal Yellowhammer territory along the fence between the meadow and the park. the fence is heavily overgrown and a variety of Robins, Wrens and Dunnocks were in this area,it reminded me of the Yellowhammer area at Fairburn.
The large flock that Denise saw could just have been a feeding party going through but time will tell.
Winter thrushes have been moving through this pm with good numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing and Starling all >NW seen from Foxhill, Littlemoor and Shelf Moor.

By the way Denise, the last sighting of Yellowhammer by me in the Queensbury area was Queensbury Station June 1965 some 46 years since when I was a mere teenager and Nigel was in his late 30s.

Foxhill,
42 Fieldfare >NW
78 Redwing >NW
91 Starling >NW

Littlemoor,
3 Stock Dove
+ sev :-
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Gt Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird

Shelf Moor.
136 Redwing >NW
1 Heron at first dark >E
BS.

Elland Gravel Pits

Canal still frozen

Walking on water

It may be a new year but the weather this early morning was no better than the last.
Thick fog and heavy drizzle forced me down country to EGP which has altered a lot from the days I used to bird it years ago.
The weather was still poor with heavy drizzle and remaining darkish until 0930hrs with most of the canal and ski lake frozen over.
A quick walk on the towpath and back, couldnt go round the backs with the dogs due to thick mud and a few mad dogs off the lead, produced 24 species but nothing exciting, the best being 4m and 3 f Goosander plus 1 Cormorant.

Heron
Coot
Moorhen
BH Gull
Common Gull
Mallard
Goosander
Canada Goose
Wood Pigeon
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Rook
Jackdaw
Blackbird
Starling
Feral Pigeon
House Sparrow
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Cormorant
Gt Tit
Blue Tit
Collared Dove.

I,d swop all these for what Denise started off with, a Yellowhammer in her garden. Well done you.
BS