Julys on its way.

With whats known as the worst month for birding nearly out we can look forward to things starting moving in July.
Here,s a few pics from July of previous years :-

          Juv Common Sandpiper at Fly Flatts

                 Lesser Black Backed gulls returning to our reservoirs

       Grey Wagtail success story from Ogden

                               Shovelers at Ogden, found by NK

        juv Wheatear, Fly Flatts

            Whitethroats getting more common

             Stonechat bred well west of Ogden

                              Gull numbers increasing, Oxenhope.

A cloudier day with a slight E>3 with a hint of rain at midday making it a little more pleasant to work and seeing more LBB gulls moving >W. The recent dry spell will have exposed a bit of shoreline around the reservoirs ready for the July waders but has worked the opposite for the Raggalds Flood leaving it bone dry.
Just got a report in this evening of a Cuckoo calling this morning at Shelf Moor near the Lion Gates.
BS

Reflections of Leeshaw, from Sunday.

                    Still water at Leeshaw yesterday.

 Very hard work birding not being able to tell where
           the shoreline was.

Just 3 pics from Leeshaw yesterday morning with the stillness of the water and the sun causing amazing reflections making it hard to see where the water ended and the shore began.
Another of those hot sticky days with a light N>2 keeping birds in the sky to a minimum although Buzzards seem to be starting to move with several sightings over the last few days including Queensbury, Northowram, Thornton and Ogden.
Winds from the east tomorrow which hopefully will take the hot stuff out into the Atlantic.
BS

Leeshaw, a.m. / Soil Hill p.m.

                                         Leeshaw, distant Cuckoo

                            Oystercatchers on new mown hay

                                      Black Headed gulls coming in

                                     Curlews moving out

                               Still plenty Curlews sticking

                                         2 of 11 Leeshaw Snipe

                                             Cormorants >NW

           Odd bird for Leeshaw,  Moorhen.

                       Soil Hill, man on Sedge Warbler watch, DJS

  No use looking at it Dave, get forrard

Despite the poor condition of blue skies, hot sunshine and dead calm, everything I didnt want, Leeshaw was reasonably busy both in the skies and on and around the water.
Several Curlews were heading high and >NW along with Cormorants and LBB gulls.
Plenty Greylags and Canadas on the water and the unusual sighting of a Moorhen.
A single Cuckoo was across the water by the farm whilst several Snipe were in the air.
2 Buzzard were very high and >NW and a Merlin was harrassing the Swallows and House Martins.
Still plenty Curlew, Lapwing and Oystercatcher about and 3 Common Sandpiper were on the limited shoreline.

A 1600hr visit to the bottom of Soil Hill was disappointing with several skulking Whitethroats, around 9, but no sign or sound of the Grasshopper or Sedge Warbs. Good job DJS was on hand to relieve the boredom.

Leeshaw
7 Cormorant
21 Curlew
1 Cuckoo
3 Common Sandpiper
1 Moorhen
5 Oystercatchers
9 Snipe
2 Buzzard.......................... >NW
1 Merlin
+ usual sp.
BS

Hows this for a garden tick

              A first for the conservatory roof

   Face to face, Lynda peering out thinking,
  Hell, what was in that medicine !!

Just giving Lynda her medicine first thing this morning when what a shock as I looked out of the bedroom window  to see a Peacock on the conservatory roof. It went down the row from conservatory to conservatory before flying off.
BS

E Mail Address

Can anyone sending e mails please use the address above, Briansumner51@hotmail.com  as my second address which I used most, Birdseyes@hotmail.co.uk has been wiped off the face of the earth for some reason by Outlook.
BS

Checking out the gulls

                                    Plenty gulls . mainly Lesser Black Backed

                                           Hundreds on em.

                                   Some good groups of Curlew

With just a spare hour at tea time it was load the scope and off to Oxenhope to check the gull situation,
Around 300 LBBs were present with 2 Herring gulls, 3 Commons and 4 Black Headed.
Curlews are starting to group on the moor and a little shoreline is starting to appear.

24 Curlew
c300 LBB gulls, about a third juvs
3 Common Gulls
4 Black Headed gulls
2 Herring gulls, argentatus.
8 Mallard
12 Canadas
2 Redshank
1 Common Sandpiper
1 Kestrel
3 Snipe
sev Linnets, Mipits
4 Red Legged Partridge.
BS

Busy skies over Queensbury

Another day of the nasty hot stuff but it seemed to work for us today with lively skies over Queensbury throughout the day.
A decent gull move early morning with mainly LBBs heading >NW with a few BHGs mixed in also >NW.
Bright clear high skies after midday tempted Swallows and House Martins to head >W all afternoon, possibly ahead of rain , if some is forecast ?
Unusual to see House Martins lately but plenty over the garage along with a few Swifts.
At 1600hrs as I went into the car park to bring a motor in, gazing skyward as usual, a Buzzard sp. was just passing over >SE and ridiculously high and reasonable fast, or faster than I could have dashed into the garage for the camera. It headed over the mill towards Northowram and  going by the height and jizz it was on a serious move.
Longest day tomorrow although it felt like the longest day today at work.
BS

Influx of Goldfinch

                      Goldfinches everywhere at the moment

                                 Taken through glass

Another hot sticky day but more overcast and a change of wind direction from the east.
Goldfinches seem to be the bird of the month with several around the village mostly seen on telephone wires although not many juvs are showing. I,m getting plenty reports at work of charms of Goldfinch around at surrounding areas such as Clayton and Boothtown.
A near miss with a Red Kite today as one flew over Swalesmoor area from the west, thanks to DJS for the call, see Calderbirds for Daves pictures, well spotted Dave.
A typical June otherwise with nothing much doing although gulls are starting to let their presence be known now with LBBs becoming a common sight.
Will have to do a bit of reservoir checking at the weekend in search of Yellow Legged Herring gulls.
Thanks to HC for texts today keeping me up to date with birds around Oxenhope.
BS

Queensbury Today

                                    Feeding Swifts out, some juvs

                                       Plenty Goldfinch around

A hot sticky day , not birding friendly weather keeping the skies quiet and me confined to privet cutting this evening. Had the camera on standby but nothing over other than a few Swifts, some being juvs and several Goldfinch which have suddenly appeared in the area.
A report today of several Blackcaps down in the old station with a customer counting 9 in one area though possibly young.
Raggalds Flood dry this morning with 2 Canadas and the usual Woodpigs.
BS

Queensbury South

            Over Shibden to Ringby Top from Green Lane

          Track to Barehead Lane. Black Redstart country

                                   A mass of trees down Shibden Valley

       South down the valley. House of 1000 windows centre right
                                       or Scout Hall

                                        Below Green Lane

                                         Henacre wood

A dull dank day with a slight N>4 until late afternoon when the sun finally broke through.
An early evening trip round Qby south found typical June conditions with very few birds.
Shelf Moor trailer park held 6 returned Lapwing and 2 Pied Wagtail though the grass is very high now so hard to pick things out. A couple of Meadow Pipits were on the walls.
Corporal Lane and Hill produced 4 BHgulls and 2 Grey Partridge whilst Green Lane had 1 Green Woodpecker calling but deep in the greenery along with 7 LBB gulls >W.
Long  Lane was poor apart from over 100 Jackdaws in a new mown field , 15 Magpies  and crippling views down Shibden Valley.
BS.

Queensbury Today

A hot and sunny day with a slight N>3 which is typical for a Monday after a dank and miserable day yesterday.
A few LBB gulls were heading over >W around midday and several juv Goldfinches were around Foxhill Park along with large numbers of young Blue Tits around the village.
A quick look at the Raggalds Flood tonight found Lapwings dispersing with 12 in and around the flood field along with 9 Woodpigeons, 4 Stock Doves and c40 juv Starlings. The water is now non existent.
BS

Leeshaw, p.m. visit

No chance to get out this morning as still on nursing duties but Lynda improved through the day so managed a quick hour at Leeshaw late afternoon.
Conditions were poor with low damp cloud causing mist on the moor top with no breeze to move it.
Things have quietened down a lot now with most of the young Lapwings and Curlews mobile and leaving the area. The water held around 16 juv Greylags and a few Canadas along with 3 LBB gulls and several overhead. Four very noisy Oystercatchers were flying around and a Snipe came down off the moor landing out of sight by the water. Plenty Meadow Pipits and Curlew were up on the moor but no sound from the 2 Cuckoos from a few days ago.
Nice to bump into DJS and daughter by the reservoir and good to meet 2 blasts from the past with Mark Doveston and Tony Gough ,who neither I have seen for some years, glad to see them looking in fine birding fettle.
The almost dry Raggalds Flood held 15 Canadas as I passed on the way home this evening.
Apologies for the brief and boring weekends blogs but hopefully things at home will have improved somewhat by next weekend and I can get out there giving it some stick.
BS

Non birding day

With Lynda not good from midday on probably due to a change of medication for a nasty skin infection to her head brought on by the after effects of the radiation it was stay at home to do my nursemaid bit.
I did manage to shoot up to the Raggalds Flood briefly to find it almost dry and holding 3 Pied Wagtails, 2 Lapwing and several Woodpigeons.
Looking across the valley beyond the flood 100s of Swifts were high in the sky as far as the eye could see, all of which were slowly drifting >NE.
Fifteen minutes sky watching from the garden at 1930hrs  produced several feeding Swifts, 2 Pipistrelle bats, 8 LBB gulls >W, 4 Swallows and a family party of 5 Goldfinch.
The nest box of Blue Tits I put on the blog at the beginning of the week is now empty and a party of 8 juvs and 2 adults are knocking around the conifers.
BS

Queensbury gulls and disappointing report.

A warm still day though cloudy and muggy.
A real gully day today with a continuous flow of LBBs mainly very high and all >NW keeping moving throughout the day. At least 4 Herring gulls headed >W and 9 Black Headeds also >W.
Several Swifts have been over the village today, again very high and feeding, moving in no specific direction.
A report of a Woodcock this morning down Queensbury Station on the bike track down there then flying off towards the Clayton tunnel..
It was brought to my attention today of a complaint from a farmer at Leeshaw reservoir who has been getting birders wandering through his fields which are all strictly private. I find this disappointing behavior from would be birders as apart from invading private land the fields still hold several nests and young birds.
All the fields around Leeshaw reservoir, including all the reservoir grounds, are strictly private but there is adequate viewing  of the reservoir and moors from the public track running along the side of the reservoir and also from the several public footpaths through the fields and across the moor.
I held a permit for the reservoir grounds from YWA for several years but these permits have now been stopped for the new trend of Health and Safety!
We have always had a good relationship with Leeshaw farmers going back to the days of Twite feeding which took place on the track below the farm and it would be a shame to have them turn against us for the sake of a few mindless trespassers.
Watch those reservoirs this weekend for waders and start checking those Herring gulls for Yellow Legged.
BS

Raggalds Flood and new I.D. book

                          4 Lapwings were back at the flood this evening

                  Almost dry but enough to tempt waders

                                  f  Mallard making the most of it.

                                              New ID book just out

After a head banging day of chasing doctors, pharmacists and NHS clinics, all who seem to need 2 months notice before you can get an appointment or medication, plus a busy day at work, it was nice to have 15 minutes quiet at the Raggalds Flood hoping for a Yellow Wagtail to drop in which did,nt happen but at least it unwound me waiting.
Very little water left now but still enough to attract, 1pr Mallard, 2 Pied Wags, 4 Lapwing , 3 Stock Dove, 7 Woodpigeon and several Swallows and Swifts.
The flock of Canada geese were absent although 5 flew past our open bedroom window very noisily at 0500hrs this morning heading in that direction.

If anyone is looking for an in depth bird id book the above book has just come out with some very good id information of confusing species and at around £20 is very good value.
The book is based on an earlier version but with many more species and info in plus amazing drawings by the late Laurel Tucker who unfortunately died suddenly at the age of 34 from a hemorrhage whilst doing drawings for the last version which she never saw finished. This new version is dedicated to her memory.
I was lucky with it after dropping hints for my birthday.
BS