Had an enjoyable day out birding around Halifax with HC. We started at Soil Hill (of course) where we flushed two Jack Snipe, had a flyover Golden Plover, a heard-only Redpoll and two Raven blogging in glorious conditions above the fog, looking down on all the valleys shrouded creating some very atmospheric birding.
Whilst we were at the bottom of the North Slope a message came through from DF that there were two drake Pintail on Ringstone, which would have been a Calderdale tick for us both. So we finished off the loop around the Hill before switching cars and heading over. Upon arriving at Ringstone we quickly found the Pintails in the middle of the reservoir, with two drakes and two females sadly never coming close. In addition, a pair of Wigeon was close to the willows on the north bank.
Now midday we decided to head over to Cromwell Bottom for a Calderdale tick of Scaup for HC. We arrived but couldn't spot any Scaup from La Casa so headed down to the canal bank. From one of the spots where it is possible to view through the fence, we managed to pick out the Aythya flock at the western end of the lake but viewing was nearly impossible. We managed to pick out the female Scaup, but couldn't spot the male with viewing as it was. At least four Goldeneye were also on the lake, along with four Coot.
Whilst we were watching we spotted a group of four ducks come in from the west and circle the lake. Although we only caught the end of the group, we noticed that the first bird was certainly a drake Wigeon. Fortunately, the group looped around and we were shocked to see the other three birds in the group were female Pintails, so a different group to Ringstone. They looped high above the lake three times, before heading off southwest, although the Wigeon later returned and landed on the lake.
Soil Hill: Mallard, Goosander, Grey Partridge, Common Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, European Golden Plover, Jack Snipe, Common Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Grey Heron, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Northern Raven, Eurasian Blue Tit, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, European Robin, Dunnock, Meadow Pipit, Eurasian Chaffinch, Redpoll, European Goldfinch,
Ringstone Edge: Canada Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Stock Dove, Northern Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Magpie, Common Starling, Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, European Goldfinch,
Cromwell Bottom: Mute Swan, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Tufted Duck, Greater Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Feral Pigeon, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Common Buzzard, Common Kingfisher, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Wren, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, European Goldfinch,
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