Endcliffe Park through to Forge Dam

Even though the weather was not great, it had been so long since I went birding that I decided to go for a walk in Endcliffe park to use the afternoon productively. However, I had a great time and saw some smashing birds, so here it is in full, rather than an add on to a weekly update.

No sooner had I arrived at the park that did a treecreeper fly right by me and land on a nearby tree. I was very excited but by the time I had gotten the camera out the bird was already some way up the tree and I was unable to get any really good shots

-Treecreeper

I wandered around the ponds in the park before wandering up the river bu there were only really mallards, moorhens and black-headed gulls. There were reports of a mandarin but I never found it.

Next I wandered up river, away from the park in the hope of finding dipper. I did not find any dipper but I did find 3 Grey Wagtails, including one that was in stunning plumage, possibly the most vivid and striking grey wagtail I have ever seen. Sadly it was too dark to get the photos I really wanted given how close I was but those I got still came out OK with Photoshop!

-Grey Wagtail

On one side of the path was the river, and on the other is a stagnant ditch, and it was in this that I spotted a very large Carrion Crow catching things in the mud. I was able to get very close to it before a dog walker scared it off, but its a bird I rarely stop to watch and as a result my library is pretty bare of them, so to be able to have views like I got of this individual was pretty special.

-Carrion Crow

I made it to Forge Dam on the outskirts of the peaks where there was a cafe and a rather impressive rookery, with about 30 pairs, and a male blackcap, though it was very flighty and I managed no photos. While I was wandering around the dam itself I heard a Chiffchaff calling, my first of the year. I decided to carry on the walk in an attempt to find it. I did not find that individual but further up I found another that was flighty but I managed to track down and get some shots of my 84th bird of the year and first Chiffchaff.

-Chiffchaff

I also flushed a song thrush in the same place, as well as spotting a Long-Tailed tit, though there were many of the latter on the walk at various points. 

-Long-Tailed Tit

Once I lost the Chiffchaff I decided it would be idea to head back to try and get some work done. On the way back I decided to take some shots of the rookery, since its the first rookery I have found this year.

-Rooks

On the walk back through Whitely Woods I found a mixed tit flock feeding in a cluster of holly trees. There seemed to be a mixture of random birds rather than a tit flock; a great tit, a robin, a blackbird, possibly another chiffchaff, a nuthatch, though not strictly with the flock but in the same vicinity and a goldcrest, which was very nice to find. 

-Nuthatch

-Goldcrest

There was not as much on the walk back, only one grey wagtail, but just before the park I found a goldfinch having a drink which was nice to see since I had been hearing them all afternoon

So there we got then, it was nice to get out of the flat and get back birding again, and I had gotten more than I had bargained for

Once more upon Soil Hill

Since I had to go over it anyway on the way back from Ogden, I intended to call in at soil hill, again, just for the fun of it. All things considered, I managed a grand total of 4 species, numbering maybe 9 individuals. As you can tell, it was another poor day upon t' hill.
The four species in question were;
Robin-Came across one on the way up, quite bold and got quite close to it
Carrion Crow-3 circling the hill upon arrival
Common Gull-One over the hill, south, and 3 flying up the Ogden valley, North
Meadow Pipit-Small speck, flying up and over the brow of the hill for a grand total of 1 second, before dipping down again

There were still some sheep on the hill though...

cotswolds holiday-day 1

a nice sunny Sunday morning greeted us as we set off for our epic voyage to the Cotswold's for a holiday. To be specific we were staying at a campsite outside of the Cotswold's, near to Warwick and as a result that is where we spent our first afternoon. I stayed in the local park next to the river to see what I could find. I found a grey squirrel stocking up on winter foods. When he saw me he bolted up a tree but there he stayed so I tried to get as close as I could.

eventually I got so close I decided to try and take a photo of him from the front to create every ones perfect picture of the cute grey squirrel (false impressions!). the animal was so bold I managed it with ease.

Down at the river there were a number of birds but the evening light was making beautiful photography e.g. of this swan.

From the bridge near the park you got lovely views of the castle and the water was dead calm so that there was a lovely reflection, only my camera lens is too big for me to fully capture that, so you will have to take my word for it!

I returned to the park after that and there I met up with my old enemy. this one however looked ideal. Some peoples dog was not on a lead and it just wandered all the way up to bird without the bird batting an eyelid. This is ideal I thought! Famous last words. The bird was chased off moments later of all things by another magpie which rocketed out of a nearby tree and almost literally shoved it off the bench. Alas, the quest continues.

down by the river I caught up with another of my birds that have escaped photography-the carrion crow and these were slightly more bold than the magpie and so was able to get some more photos.

But hark look, over the trees, lurks the ominous rain cloud!!

luckily we were just about wrapping up. my mum had just gone to the toilet and as a result I had a little look in an artificial mud stream and to my surprise I found a grey wagtail. I did my best to try and get some photos because the bird was not shy but sadly it was already finishing in the stream when i found it and soon left before I could get any decent photos.

Back at the caravan site it was almost dark but there was a lovely dark moon although the photo doesn't really show it because of the flash but still!

malham cove-wednesday

we went for a walk. unfortunatly it lost its spectaculararity becuase of the mist. bird wise it was soemwhat lacking but i managed to see a dipper or two. the village and town were the highest concentrations of birds
collard doves
blackbirds
mallards
blue tit
crows of various
half a shrew-(frozen)

the limestone pavement

the river was frozen quite spectacularly

my first dipper shots

a fog shot

the closest encounter with a house sparrow ever

The real soil hell-unleashed

i went home after school to hopefully go swimming but the person i was supposed to be going with has "banged his head" so i diddnt go swimming. instead i decided to go up to soil hill. as i arrived the hill was shrouded in mist, a mystery waiting to be explored. however as i went upp dog poo path i saw that the guy had been busy with his bulldozer. the whole place was a mud pit. my boot got stuck multiple times and when it was free felt like it had bricks strapped to it. to make matters worse was the lack of birds. i never made it over to the bradford side it was that bad but the calderdale side has only a small patch of habitat left. i tried my hardest to get over there but resulted in my trouses also becoming ladend with mud. in
total i saw:
2 crows-in the fog
1 blackbird-in the fog
1 male siberian rubythroat-(only kidding)
overall i can only say that whoever owns the dump managed to turn a landfill site into even more than mess than before, if that is possible with landfill sites.
one final message to all those foolish enopugh to try getting up there:
you are more likely to be sucked into the mud and drowning than see any birds

scammonded-in search of the mysterious GND

a quiet and slushy walk around the harbour side of the resovoir. sadly i could not find the diver which i was gutted about but thats the way things are. however all was not in vain. we got smashing views of a jay in flight. i dont go to scammonden often (3 times in 15 years) so i can not really say plus the usual species because i dont actually know what they are. plenty of b.h.gulls plus a song thrush and woodpigeons and canada geese and lots of mallards.

as we left we saw a kestrel attacking a crow. in the end the crow got so annoyed that it had to land to avoid harrasment.

day 2-bridgnorth (monday) part 1

today we went for a ride on the trains. when we arrived we learnt that the tornado (most recent built steam train) was here. we stood on the bridge and waited for it drive underneath us. when it did though my brother got a cloud off smoke in his face-sucker.
we went up and down the track once and then decided to stop off at a little country station when will be in part 2. the one bit of wildlife that was notable was the elephants in the shrubland-very rare these days!!

a rare sight!

the train we used for the journey

the tornado-a special sight

a rare manor class steam train

p.s. there were also lots of camera shy pheasants as we drove past, buzzards, carrion crows and a jay.

soil hill -yesterday

a walk up to soil hill yesterday in the wind. at first i thought i shouldnt have bothered as there was no bird call and besides crows mobbing a kestrel way off no sign of life at all. as soon as i walked onto the top however i flushed a snipe. it flew forward and landed at the first scrape. i saw it land by a aptch of bulrushes so tip-toed over to it. however as soon as i got there the snipe rocketed out of a bunch of grass-not where it landed and as it did so a second eurupted from a nearby scrape. i managed to get a few quick shots but the one here is the only decent one which shows and snipe traits. they flew off towards ogden and warley moor.

after walking round the top i had only flushed a skylark i headed down to the pools i managed to find nothing on the way down but when i got there a pair of mallards were flushed. after a qwuick scout round ispotted a stonechat on the wires going over. i tried to sneak closer to it but it saw me and flew in to the reeds. there it was joined by a second.

there were no other birds besides these, the kestrel was flying about a bit and two mipits flew over but besides that nothing of any note.

soil hill-a cracking day

what a typical goldfinch scene

four of a large linnet flock

jays-3 there this morning

i think these are teals

i went to soil hill this moring at once birds were erupting from the ground everywhere. i walked round the top and thought i saw an osprey-but on closer examination it was plane. then i walked down to the pools at the pools i flushed three ducks. the photos arnt much good but i cant make out the second white line to distinguish it to be a mallard. just i was trying to find out where the ducks had gone a crow sized bird with a white rump flew past and i instantly recognized it as a jay. it then joined its buddies to bring the total to three.
overall:
linnet-big flock
mipit-too many
skylark-bouncing off the floor everywhere
wheatear-1 with mipits as you enter
kestrel-2 circling
red grouse-four flushed
jay-3 quite close
sparrowhawk-1 but camera wouldnt focus so no pics
teal??-3 flushed by first pool
goldfinch-numerous large flocks
crows-loads milling about
lesser black-backed gull-1 flew over

lakeland weekend-pictures of lakeland

are you looking at me


fog moveing over skidow

a postcard picture

migrating geese at sunset

a lovely sunset

the crystle calm lake

always a favourite

a nuthatch!

how do you drive this thing-amateur joyrider

a buff-tip moth caterpillar

what a view

whirlygig beetles-the most comical insect alive

rosehips-the autumn fruit

something was obviously wrong with this shrew (although it didnt show) as it happily munched a worm

this was about 5cm away, you could touch it

a common puffball

a common darter-a stunning insect

another view of lakeland

the merganser family

hello there

ohhh, like ouch

like water off a ducks back

a clean sweep!

some took extreme methods in hygene

like the hyenas on the savanah, always after your lunch!!

that concludes the flight with goose 923

the southern hawker in the park