Redwings

Drving past the moor this morning, I got smashing views of a redwing in the sunshine near manor heath. There were a few more but they were further away so the view was not as clear

soil hill

Had a quick walk round the top at around 2.00 today. Sadly there was not much going on; 5 lapwings on the top which took off and headed off towards Denholm and a kestrel hunting.

-Kestrel

-Lapwings

To Skipton and back

Driving along the main road to skipton today I spotted a couple of oystercatchers in the fields, as well as two curlews take off from the side of the river.

Garden Sparrowhawk

My dad called me away from my homework today to tell me that the male sparrowhawk was sat on the neighbours privet hedge, and it was sticking its long legs down into the bush to try and capture a sparrow. It then left the hedge and dived under out hedge/fence in out garden, where we could not see it, but when it flew away there was nothing in its claws, so we assume that it caught nothing. Either way, its great to see such a nice bird in the garden so regularly.

Fieldfares over the house

We dont get them very often, but they are always nice to see when they do turn up. Today we had a flock of about 10 fieldfares in a tree next to the house. At first we were unsure what they were, but I went and managed to get right below their tree to confirm that they were fieldfares. I was able to watch them for some time, as they even descended into an adjacent field to forage, before returning to the trees before taking flight.



Sparrowhawk

Driving through bradshaw on the way back from church today, I spotted the sillhuet of a sparrowhawk flying low over bladshaw school. No idea what gender of anything like that, but its outline looked lovely against the clouds.

fieldfare

driving over soil hill on the way to ogden watch today I spotted a distinct bird sat in the field next to the road. At first I thought it was a skylark, but as we got closer I could tell that it was a fieldfare, and a good view too.

Burnsall Bridge

 You know how this goes, and tis post is being written 3 months late, so any details will be thin on the ground. Burnsall bridge, overcast walk up the river. It took a while for things to get going, but we got smashing views of female goosander flying right past us

-Female Goosander
Futher up the river and we got smashing views of a wren under a rock. It was very difficult to see because it was doing what wrens do and seemingly teleporting around, but when we caught up with it.

-Wren
Again upstream we encountered more female goosanders which conisitently flew past us quite close

-Goosander
We got to the stepping stones and there I got a shot of a dipper on the stepping stones, something I had always wanted to try and get a photo of

-Dipper
We carried on futher than usual today, past the bridge where there are few rocks in the river, and so the birds tend to be a bit different. However, where there were rocks I was able to get close a very bold dipper

-Dipper

I mentioned that the birds were different, and the buzzard overhead shows it, as we moved into more open fields where buzards would be more at home

-Buzzard

On the far bank of the river I spotted this oystercatcher which could well be a first for me on this river, though it may not be.

-Oystercatcher

It was only when we were nearly back at the car that we caught up with another regular on this river, grey wagtail, and it was a pretty poor view at that

-Grey wagtail

Just before we got back we spotted our first male goosander of the day, together with another female, possibly one we had already seen

-Goosander

Soil Hill again

Well, this is awkward because as I am writing about this trip to soil hill a whole three months after the actual trip due to card reader problems. I am racking my brains and am struggling to remember what really happened, and where it all fits in with regard to the photos. There were plenty of skylarks, obviously, and I remember trying to stalk one on the top near to the ruined outhouse. I also remember descending the slope and that the only thing at the bottom was a kestrel on the wire. I can also remember that as I was leaving there was a skylark on the wall, which descended into the field, allowing me to sneak up on it, getting some reasonable photos. Besides that, I can't remember anything exciting happening, so you can make that bit up to make it more exciting if you like, here's a run down of all the photos in apparent chronological order... 

-Skylark on the top

-Kestrel

-Various skylarks

Soil hill

Its been a while, but today was so nice outside it would have been crazy not to go up t' hill. Clear, cloudless Sky's, no wind, what more could you want. To be honest there was not much going on up on the hill, but what there was, was pretty special. There were about three skylarks singing, and two more not singing, as well as a couple of linnets and a kestrel perched on the mast. I got quite close to the kestrel, but it saw me the same moment I saw it, so my great view was very brief.

-Skylark

-Kestrel