Soil Hill & Whiteholme; Week 07th June - 13th June

Soil Hill

A pretty typical mid-June week with very little of note overall, but pleasant birding with many of the established migrants still around, lots of activity from the breeding waders and a few nice bits and pieces thrown in to keep things lively. Without doubt the standout of the week was a Nuthatch on Taylor Lane on the 9th. As I was walking up I heard the call, but was not 100% confident that it was indeed a Nuthatch, given that this would only be my third record here, but as I approached it flew out from the conifers and landed on a telegraph post on the opposite side of the road. Here I had just enough time to grab a few quick photos before it was flushed by a passing car. It then flew off towards the tall trees on Perseverence Lane. This week I also had two different Red Kite sightings, one on the 8th and another on the 9th. On the 8th a bird flew low and slow over Denholme Velvets, and may have dropped in but frustratingly I lost it while gathering my camera. The following day one was soaring well to north of Soil Hill, probably over Denholme, or possibly even further. A few Sand Martin and a Siskin rounded the week off nicely. 

-Red Kite

-Nuthatch

Whiteholme Reservoir

Just one visit this week, with wader passage all but over and the distant and time it takes to visit this site made it all seem a little worthless. I'll be back to frequent visits come mid-July. There were a couple of Dunlin and a nice group of 5 Oystercatchers, but otherwise precious little of note.

Undisclosed Location

Thanks to gen from Mark Dovestone, it was a pleasure to see, and more importantly hear, a displaying Nightjar less than half an hour from my house. It seems crazy to think that I can hear a nightjar whilst looking at the Soil Hill mast! A fantastic evening recording one of these birds, my first in the UK since 2018, when I ringed chicks on Hatfield Moor. 

-European Nightjar

Species List:
Soil Hill: Canada Goose, Mallard, Red-legged Partridge, Common Pheasant, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Swift, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Northern Lapwing, Eurasian Curlew, Common Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, European Herring Gull, Red Kite, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Barn Swallow, Sand Martin, Willow Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Eurasian Wren, Eurasian Nuthatch, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Common Chaffinch, European Greenfinch, Common Linnet, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Siskin, Common Reed Bunting, Small Heath, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip, Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly,
Whiteholme Reservoir: Canada Goose, Mallard, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Northern Lapwing, Common Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Eurasian Curlew, Dunlin, Common Snipe, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Kestrel, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Skylark, Eurasian Wren, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Common Reed Bunting,

Soil Hill; Isolation week 3

Spring continued to arrive on Soil Hill, and as a result this week was perhaps the best weeks birding I have ever had here, although since being at Spurn and travelling/working I have had little chance to do such consistant patching. That said, some of the birds enjoyed in a remarkable run really have been unprecedented. 

11 April

Visit from 07.30. Total 48 species observed.

This has to be the best days birding I have ever had on Soil Hill. To start, 48 species is my highest ever total for a single visit here. Things were fairly standard for the first half of the visit, all the regulars still on their territories and the gulley was fairly uneventful. A drake Goosander flew off Ogden, and that was probably the best (Only my second seen here).

I began working the tree line down to the NK pond and here things started to get interesting. There was a very distinctive tacking noise coming from the bushes, which could only mean one thing. And there it was, a female Ring Ouzel, my first of the year. Sadly it did not sit long before it was flushed by another bird. The previous days Wheatears had now increased to six, including two stunning males.

Pretty chuffed with the morning I made my way back up to the top. Aware I was on a high species list, I decided to try again around the gulley to see if any Swallows were hunting over the fields (There was one). A bird flew over and me and vanished over the top. The impression it gave was Nuthatch, but I did not believe there would ever be another after the remarkable 2015 bird. Still, I raced to catch up with it, and there sat right at the top of a stubby tree was a Nuthatch. I was stunned. It sat for a few minutes, calling, before flying off. A remarkable occurance. 

At this point I was buzzing at what an outstanding morning it had been. But the best was still to come. I was walking past the stone circle field when I spotted two large birds soaring over Ogden plantation. The first bird was obviously a LBBG but the second was puzzling me a bit more. The way it was holding its wings reminded me of Marsh Harrier but I thought more likely it would be a young gull. However, I was wrong! The pair drifted towards the hill circling the whole time and as it got closer I could make out the cream crown on the bird, a stunning Cream-crowned Marsh Harrier. It then flew right overhead before heading northwards. 

And then, to finish the day off right, another Ring Ouzel flew over Taylor Lane high. 

-Ring Ouzel

-Northern Wheatear

-Nuthatch

-Marsh Harrier

12 April

Visit from 09.00. Total 40 species observed. 

I treated myself to a small lie-in after yesterdays success. Todays visit was less remarkable but there was still good birding to be had. The highlight was another Ring Ouzel in the fields off Taylor Lane, although very distant. 

Willow Wablers numbers now up to 8, first Whitethroat back and a single Wheatear still lingering. 

-Ring Ouzel

13 April

Visit from 13.00. Total 29 species observed.

Cold and windy conditions made me decide on an afternoon visit, hopefully to coincide with some raptors. After the last few days success, there was unlikely to be anything notable today...

Wrong! Although the hill was fairly quiet with no raptors to speak of, I flushed a smart Grasshopper Warbler at the top of the north slope tree line. The bird sat somewhat as well, rather than vanishing into the scrub, which made for a few photo opportunities. This is only my second time seeing this species here. 

-Grasshopper Warbler

14 April

Visit from 06.30. Total 39 species observed

I think my spring might have peaked today! 

It was a fairly standard spring visit, with a particularly showy Willow Warbler the highlight. No wheatears at all, so decided that it probably was not a good day for migrants. Went about counting the bottom field waders as usual but one Curlew drew my attention. I only had my bins on me, and the bird was distant so decided to grab a photo and zoom in. It did nothing to dispell my suspicions, only seemed to confirm them. I decided to take a risk and jumped the fence to get closer. On closer inspection there was no denying it. Whimbrel! I grabbed a few photos and then rushed back to observe. A really unexpected Hill addition and probably the best bird I have found there in my time. What a day.

-Willow Warbler

-Whimbrel

15 April

Visit from 06.30. Total 46 species observed

Another remarkable day on the hill, although nothing to the standard of Whimbrel. It was fairly standard until I found two Wheatears at the bottom of the north slope. Clearly these were new birds, and the female especially was very showy. 

With birds new in, despite there being nothing earlier, I decided to check the gulley again and was rewarded with an absolutely spanking male Ring Ouzel. He even showed well at one point, although all too breif. Another bird was calling as well, but I could not find it. Two more Ring Ouzels brings my spring total of this species up to 5!

At the far end of the gulley I also found a pair of Stonechat which showed very nicely. 

-Northern Wheatear

-Ring Ouzel

-European Stonechat

16 April

Visit from 06.30. Total 43 species observed

Walk started nicely with Ring Ouzel in a field off Taylor Lane. Was in exact same area as bird on the 12th so possibly the same bird, although I have not seen it in between.

Peregrine flyover was a nice highlight, as was my first reeling Grasshopper Warbler of the year. Following the song I picked up the bird perched in the sedges, showing rather nicely.

Usual contingent of Willow Warblers and single Whitethroat. At least four Snipes present in the bottom fields, three in the air displaying at the same time.

-Peregrine

-Grasshopper Warbler

17 April

Visit from 06.45. Total 36 species observed.

The weather changed from the glorious warm mornings of late, instead the hill was shrouded by low cloud and a biting cold wind. I expected much less diversity as a result but was pleasantly surprised, although there was nothing particularly notable. The previous days Grasshopper Warbler was still reeling, although from a different location, and that was the standout.

Species List:

Soil Hill: Canada Goose, Mallard, Goosander, Red-legged Partridge, Common Pheasant, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Woodpigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Northern Lapwing, Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Common Snipe, Black-headed Gull, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Western Marsh Harrier, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Little Owl, Tawny Owl, Long-eared Owl, Common Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Common Grasshopper Warbler, Barn Swallow, Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Goldcrest, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird, Ring Ouzel, European Robin, European Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Common Chaffinch, European Greenfinch, Common Linnet, European Goldfinch, Common Reed Bunting, Red Fox, Stoat, Western Roe Deer, European Rabbit, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, 

Soil Hill

First day back on the hill today, so I was hopeful for something a bit different to have happened during my time away. There was Himalayan Bolsom growing on the verge going up, which I don 't recall being there before.

As I passed the small group of trees at the base of the track-way I thought I could hear Goldcrest calling, which would be a remarkable patch tick, so set up to get wait to see if I could confirm my suspicions. I was pleased after a wait of around 20 mins that I got decent views of a Goldcrest feeding among the pine needles. However, I was unable to get a photo, so I decided to wait a longer to try and get a photo of this patch tick.

As I waited I gained another patch tick, though this one a little less unexpected, in the form of 2 juvenile Coal Tits that were flitting around the pines. These I was able to get a record shot of, and I was pretty pleased with my effort.

-Coal Tit

The Coal Tits sat out for a bit, and they were more than obliging while I was waiting. The Goldcrest made another fleeting visit, but I failed to have my camera ready and I missed my chance to grab a record shot, so cue more waiting!

Its a good thing I did too, as I got my most remarkable record for the site I have ever got. Another bird landed on a horizontal branch, which was so obvious but so unexpected, Nuthatch! I could not believe what I was seeing, but sadly only managed one, very obscured record shot. I was thrilled at seeing this, a real patch MEGA. If I had not spent so long looking at the patch of trees I would never had known it was there, which makes you wonder what other goodies are lurking in there. The Nuthatch flitted for around 30 seconds before it dropped back into the wood never to be seen again.

-Nuthatch

I was buzzing after seeing that, and nothing could really top it. And nothing did! The top was pretty quiet all in all. I spotted a couple of Roe Deer down the north face, though at the time I could only see one, but looking at there photos I spotted the ears of a second 

-Roe Deer

Its a thrilling return to the patch with numerous patch ticks, and the Nuthatch being an exceptional addition to the Soil Hill list. What an afternoon, you don't get many like that up there.

Species List:

Soil Hill: Swift, Carrion Crow, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Blackbird, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Nuthatch, Skylark, Starling, Swift, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Moorhen, Kestrel, Magpie, Great Tit, Pied Wagtail,

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

Bolton Abbey

-Goldcrest

-Nuthatch

-Goldfinch

Nice weather for a change meant that today we were going to Bolton Abbey for a walk. It was a lovely day too as it turned out with some great birds seen to get this years list off and rolling.
Initially we started slowly but by the end of the first section of the walk I had managed:
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Blackbird
Woodpigeon
Feral Pigeon
Grey Heron
Mallard
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Rook
Magpie
Goosander
Goldfinch
Goldcrest
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
And the 2 finest specimens: Bullfinch and Mistle thrush
On the way back there was much less birdlife than on the way there, but still some great stuff to be had. Adding to the above list I managed
Common Buzzard
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Kestrel
So overall a very good and productive day.

Burnsall Bridge

A lovely walk by the river in Burnsall in the lovely Yorkshire Dales. The weather was absolutely glorious (For England) so that it was a very pleasant walk up the river, as usual. We started of course at the cafe and playing field, where there were ample sand martins, as well as wonderful views of a large crayfish under the water. There was also a lovely family of ducks sheltering under the bridge.  

-Mallard

As we set off I spotted a grey wagtail heading up to one of the overgrown ditches on the bridge and so assumed that it had a nest up there. 

There rest of the walk went by pretty uneventful, with the exception of a distant spotted flycatcher, until a point much higher than where we usually see wildlife where we had what might be (For us) a river first. I was watching a dipper in the river and while we watched it there was a constant cheeping next to us, and I wasn't really looking for its source as I assumed that it was in the shrubbery near the river but as we made ready to move on I spotted a common sandpiper sat out in the open making all the racket. I was able to get great views and photos of what was a very obliging bird. As we carried on moving up stream it even came and landed near us again further up so that I was able to get great shots of this species

-Common Sandpiper 

The bridge came on up ahead, and after a rest there we set off back downstream. In the open grassy section just below the bridge there are a few trees and it was there that I caught up with a lovely spotted flycatcher. I spotted it as it flew across the river to catch an insect and was caught scrapping with another spotted flycatcher. After it had defended its territory or whatever it came back to land in the tree next to us. Sadly though the high contrast between the shade of the tree and the open field meant that most of my photos were very dark. Unfortunate considering how close the bird was to us.  

-Spotted Flycatcher 

Heading back we caught up again with the sandpiper, easy to find now since we had become so familiar with its call. I then spotted another among the rocks in the middle of the river. This one was nothing like as vocal as the one closest to us. So it was that I got one of many biggest shocks of the day, as a baby suddenly appeared on the near shore along the waters edge. I was surprised, but in a pleasant way, and only adds to the value of the common sandpiper sighting today. It was still quite a young bird, but since the torrential rain that we usually get doesn't seem to have materialised its prospects look reasonably good.

-Juvenile Common Sandpiper

-Common Sandpiper 

At the rapids we than spotted a dipper flying up to a place in the cliff numerous times, and when we were all quiet we were able to hear the young in the nest

As we walked past the rapids to the large open field I spotted a pair of juvenile nuthatches with a parent in one of the large trees. And so we got another great view of some fledgling birds being tended to by the parents. Sadly I was unable top get any photos of the juveniles or the adults feeding them, mainly due to my being content to just watch them. I was however able to get great views of the adult as it came really close to us to gather food. 

-Nuthatch 

And so we returned to the start. I mentioned to my parents about my grey wagtail hunch, even as I said one of the adults headed up to the site, so I suggested we go up and have a look. When we reached a suitable place I had a peek over at where I expected them to be, in the drainpipe, but was unable to see anything. I decided then to wait for the adult to see if one of the adults would come up and explain this riddle to me. Indeed one of the adults did come up with a beak full of food, but it obviously thought me too close to reveal its secrets, so I moved back.

-Grey wagtail

I then watched as it descended to the drain, and then moved up a level to one of the overgrown ridges above the drain, where I was then able to hear babies calling. I waited for the adult to leave and moved back to where I had been before to see how old they were, but mainly to see if I could find it this time. 

I looked over and got quite a shock, as four well grown grey wagtail chicks stared back at me. I'm not one for "cuteness", but even I think that these are cute. They look healthy and ready to fledge at any point. I took a few photos and then left to reduce the stress I might cause the youngsters 

-Grey wagtail Chicks

 After that Baby filled walk we spent the rest of the day fishing in the river for crayfish. We found ample bullheads/millers thumbs and quite a few loaches, some of a fair size. But sadly we only found 3 crayfish, though one was carrying an egg sack. 

I would have to say that it was certainly one of the more wildlife filled walks at this place, and not just because of the ample juvenile birds that seemed to be everywhere.