And so it continues.

 

                                A murky start to the morning.

                                        Still no joy with the roads

                                House Sparrows queueing for the feeders.

                                    Plenty Blackbirds present

                                    The watering hole.

                                    Solitary Woodpig.

A misty start after a very heavy overnight freeze and no sign of a thaw throughout the day. A few heavy snow showers but not causing any more problems. Some nice sunny periods but temperatures too low for any sign of a melt.

       A day of more digging and snowy dog walking with birding and shopping withdrawal symptoms setting in. Hopefully I'm expecting a launch in the morning, if nothing drastic weather wise happens overnight, plus we need a Sainsburys in the afternoon with Queensbury Coop having near empty shelves when I walked down today.

     Once again the feeders were very busy but failing to bring anything other than the usual species in.

Looking like a bright sunny day tomorrow but no sign of a thaw with temperatures struggling to get up to zero. Looking like after the weekend before any thaw starts up.

BS

Deep an' crisp an' even, more snow.

 Another rude awakening with a full mashing of overnight snow and once again everything at a standstill.

    A plough and gritter actually came up the road today, which is a bus route, but the plough was not being used due to speed bumps so they just dropped a bit of salt on 2 foot of snow, so still no access other than an odd 4x4 or two.

     A big shovel this afternoon from the garage to the road but that's as far as it gets so yet another day aborted tomorrow, now I know what a caged bear feels like.

     A few dog walks up Foxhill, trying to find somewhere the dogs could walk, avoiding the deep snow, only provided a few Common and Black Headed gulls over whilst the garden feeders held several Bluetits, Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks, House Sparrows, Woodpigeon and Starlings.

     A low chance of slight snow showers tomorrow so hopefully we are past the worst now, all we need now is a big thaw.

BS

Grounded an' reet.

 

                                    Hard work keeping the water clear. 

                                    A misty murky Queensbury

                                    Not much traffic today

                                Drifts leading to the garage.

                                    Foxhill Park.

Heavy overnight snow leaving a good covering this morning and stopping the roads due to no gritters or ploughs all day. The snow eventually turned to light drizzle early afternoon with more snow forecast for tonight. Early morning the wind was strong piling the snow up into deep drifts so not looking like I'll get the car out anytime soon.

      A few dog walks in Foxhill Park, which was'nt easy with the snow deeper than the dogs, though they seemed to enjoy it. The bird feeders were busy throughout the day with House Sparrows, Blue and Gt Tits, Robin, Dunnock and Woodpigeon.

    Looking like another non birding day tomorrow!

BS

Leeshaw Reservoir

 

                                        LH.  Single Pink Footed with Greylags.

                                Red Necked Grebe still present

                                Barn Owl mobbed with BH gulls

Fog on the tops early morn but Leeshaw clear with dark clouds and early drizzle causing black ice on the track with a S>3 at 1 degree.

    An excellent morning with the Red Necked Grebe into its 6th day since it was first sighted, along with good but distant views of a Barn Owl over the water. A single Pink Footed goose was in with the Greylags though very few geese present with just 15 Greylags and 2 Canadas. Nothing else on the water apart from Mallards whilst around 40 BH gull, 10 Common and 3 Herring were present as well as a Cormorant.

   A Stonechat was briefly on the banking and 4 House Sparrows were unusual for this site. Otherwise all the usual species but no sign of the Dipper down in the beck today.

   On the way home, a mixed flock of around 30 Fieldfare and Redwing were in the Raggalds Flood field along with 6 Lapwing and a few small gulls.

   Least said about tomorrows forecast the better with a ton of snow forecast so tomorrow will probably be game over, and with a week of low temperatures it will take some shifting. The forecasters are once again getting carried away, giving out life threatening conditions and warning people to stay indoors, but it is mid winter and only snow which we expect every year. Its a good job they did,nt see snow that we used to get in the fifties and sixties with drifts higher than a double decker bus.

BS

    

Ogden, I should have listened to N.K.!

 

                                    An icy promenade

                                    Pleasant morning, no birds

                                        The only west bank bird.

                                        Gulls on the water were easy to count

After overnight snow and still coming down lightly at 0815hrs I thought it wise to stick near to home.

By the time I arrived at Ogden, first light, the sky cleared leaving blue sky and sunshine on a light NW>2 at 2 degrees.

      A pleasant walk around the waterside track in the sun and well frozen underfoot so no muddy dogs to clean. Bird-wise it was very poor, see NKs blog for yesterday, with empty feeders, so no Nuthatch etc to see there, whilst the water held 2 BH gull, building up to 6 by the time I left and 2 Commons. Also on the water was a single Cormorant and the usual female Goosander as well as the resident Mallards.

     A Robin was the only bird found along the west bank whilst the rest of the track produced Chaffinch,

Dunnock, Gt and Blue Tit and a Wren along with Blackbird, Starling etc. No sign at all of Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Siskin, Redpoll and the expected Tit flock. Sheer excitement when 2 Canada geese flew over!
  Strange why Ogden remains bird-less, especially on the water, when 4 mile down the road at Wibsey, Bank Top and Low Moor there are wildfowl and gulls galore. Even Roundhay Park at Leeds today reported Mandarin, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Wigeon and Teal. Seems like park watching is the thing for winter.  I can only surmise that it is due to the elevation up here on the tops.

   An early afternoon dog walk over Foxhill found 2 Whooper Swan heading >N up the Aire Valley.

    Looking half decent for tomorrow with part cloud on a light southerly, unless the snow appears early, until late evening when the wind strengthens from the east bringing fog and heavy snow throughout the night and Sunday making Sunday look like a write off.

BS  

      

     

Harold Park/ Park Dam.

 

HAROLD PARK

                                    Plenty gulls to sift through

                                                2 Pochard present

                                    Unfortunately against sun angle.

PARK DAM                Gt White Egret in distant tree

                                        A new arrival of 45 Tufted.

A very cold start to the morning at minus 2 degrees but full clear blue sky and sunshine on a NW>3.

Very icy roads on the journey there.

     Yesterday the rain and dark sky hampered photos and today it was the low bright sun that was a nuisance with everything against sun angle so plenty silhouetting.      

       A very hectic morning with a mass of gulls and wildfowl on the park lake with around 200 Black Headed, 4 Common, 2 LBB and 19 Herring gull along with 2 Mute Swan from Bank Top , which soon left and headed back in that direction.

      A good find of 2 Pochard, neither of which looked like the previous one that recently disappeared from this site and Park dam. Only 2 Tufted present among the Mallard, Greylag and Canada plus the usual Coots, Moorhens and Little Grebe. The woodland just produced, Gt Tit and Chaffinch along with the usual species.

     Over the road at Park Dam the Gt White Egret was confined to a distant tree along with 2 Heron whilst the water was active with a new arrival of 35 Tufted duck after a clear-our previously. Still a count of 10 Mute Swan along with 6 Goosander, 2 Gt Crested Grebe and the usual Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Greylag and Canada etc.

   The Red Necked Grebe is still present on Leeshaw, going by reports today.

 A decent looking day tomorrow with part cloud on a moderate NW at 2 degrees.

BS

Bird of the year on the first day, Leeshaw Reservoir, Red Necked Grebe.

 

                                A good start to the year, Red Necked Grebe

                                Very mobile around the reservoir.

A horrendous morning at Leeshaw reservoir with very dark cloud, heavy to torrential rain and a strong SW>6 gusting 7 at 3 degrees.

     Not a morning to be out birding but with a Red Necked Grebe reported yesterday, BV, a good soaking was a small price to pay. After about 30 minutes and giving up hope it suddenly appeared out near the valve tower but keeping distant. 

      It kept going out of sight under the near banking before giving brief appearances but always well out on the water. A couple of times it flew from one end of the reservoir to the other and was catching small fish throughout. It was very illusive at times in the conditions and very difficult to get anything other than poor photos with the conditions and weather which eventually closed in cutting any visibility to the water.

     In 2024 my bird of the year was Wood Sandpiper at Fly Flatts in May and this year it looks like its nailed on the first day as I don't expect to beat this one.

    Otherwise, a few gulls and geese etc but nothing of note in the terrible conditions. Sunshine p.m. so hopefully there should be some decent photos of the bird if anyone has ventured up there, not another birder in sight this morning.

     Looking like full sun tomorrow on a light NW with temperatures down to minus 3 early morn.

BS