OGDEN

22/11/2009 Cold W>5 turning SW>4. Heavy showers.
A quiet morning with nothing on the water other than a few BH Gulls and Commons.
Dipper showed well but poor light ended me up with a load of poor and blurry photos, just when I was trying to beat Nigels.
The highlight of the morning was a flock of calling Crossbills which flew over the Dipper pool and dropped down into the trees further upstream.

12 Crossbills
1 Dipper
4 Goldcrests
+ usual Wrens, Robins, Tits etc.
BS

Worthwhile Washout

Arrived at Soil Hill 1110hrs and battled through the murk and rain, distance often down to 10 metres. Almost managed a blank, but was thwarted by:

7 Meadow Pipit, 2 Skylark, Snipe.

Swalesmoor at approx 1400hrs was even wetter, but:

c7 Meadow Pipit, 6 Skylark, 10+ Pied Wagtail. 2 Snow Bunting still present but only seen together once. They were very flighty and often very difficult to pin down until they landed in the grassy area, as opposed to the mud.

Also present, another crazy birder - Dave Sutcliffe.

Ringby Lane (Swales Moor)

2 Snow Buntings there today - (with apologies for the poor shot, yes they are both there, but it was difficult to stand up on the top today, never mind get some decent photos)!
5 Skylark
1 Common Snipe
6 Meadow Pipits
1 Kestrel
45 Starlings
c120 corvids

Soil Hill & Swalesmoor

Soil Hill 1010hrs Strong SW mild wind. Meadow Pipit, 2 Skylark, 45+ Lapwing which were on the top field on the excavated earth.

I startled a Jack Snipe from a small pool, sheltered by the N facing ridge on the top field. It must have been feeding as it flushed from about 8 metres upon becoming aware of my lumbering presence. It climbed to just over head height and flew approx 20 metres down the slope without much effort, thanks to the wind, before dropping into cover.

Ogden was really quiet but thankfully the Dipper once more put on a super display in the usual spot.



Deciding that I couldn't face any more wind, I thought I would head home but a text from DJS via BS had me travelling to Swalesmoor, arriving at approx 1320hrs. Sure enough after one sweep of the favoured field, I got the two Snow Bunting and had rather good views of them in flight too. It was too windy for decent pics; I just managed this one.

Also 7 Skylark, 2 Pied Wagtail and a squadron of Crows.

Update - New Area Map

I have placed a dynamic map of the rough catchment area on top of the weather forecast (scroll down to page bottom). This is very flexible and can be used to zoom in and out as well as pan all over the show. It can also be viewed in 3 different forms as per the menu buttons top RH corner. When you've finished playing with it, the map automatically resets itself to centre on this page.

I can't replicate it correctly on the Website home page yet; I reckon it's a question of tweaking the code which I will sort out later.

Ringby Lane (Swales Moor)

1 Snow Bunting there this afternoon on and around the weedy areas around the very muddy patch of ground on the top - this is a different bird from the female I saw on the 9th and 13th November which was very approachable. This bird is flightier, less approachable and was heard calling in flight.

Todays bird is similar to the earlier one but the head markings are slightly different and the rusty yellow brown marks on the side of the breast are broken with white on the front of the chest - the earlier bird had diffused orange right across the front of the chest. The most marked difference was the back which was slightly greyer and less streaked than the earlier bird. I would guess todays bird is a 1st winter female. it was still present at 15.30.

Also present on the top
Skylark 5
Meadow Pipit 15
Pied Wagtail 2

2 Herring Gulls (adult and 1st winter )>N
39 Golden Plover came over high from the east (apologies for earlier error - got my directions wrong!) at 15:00 then changed direction to SW to avoid heavy rain approaching from the west

Soil Hill Reality

SH 1110hrs quiet as expected, deteriorating into total disappointment.

3 Meadow Pipit, Skylark, 9 Grey Partridge, 110+ Starling, Reed Bunting, Stonechat.

Best part of the day was flushing a Woodcock almost from underfoot at the bottom slope only to find it out in the open on the top field on my return up there. It flew a short distance and dropped in to cover alongside the pools on the track where I left it in peace.


On departing the hellish hill I found, to my dismay, 3 large transparent plastic bags full of rubbish. But all was explained when I discovered the newly positioned sign on the track entrance gate. Ah well that's alright then, but I do wonder what happened to this proposed development


Ogden Res 1235hrs was similar to DJS report of yesterday 16/11 except a female Goosander flew in from Mixenden direction plus 9 LTT.

Ogden

Very quiet there this afternoon in the poor weather;
c12 Goldcrest
1 Great-spotted Woodpecker
c 20+ Goldfinches gathering in the sycamores by the 'Causway Foot' - think they roost in the shrubbery?
No wildfowl other than usual Mallard and 1 Canada with the Barnacle Goose by the visitors centre.

Queensbury goes tropical

16/11/2009
Several reports have come in today with sightings of a large blue Macaw spotted in the West End area of Queensbury.
Also a customer from the upper Shibden area has seen the Ring Necked Parakeet on several occasions and believes it to be an escapee because of its tameness. No ring has been seen as yet.
BS

At Home - Collared Doves vs Sparrowhawk

Evidence last Thursday (12/11) suggested another Collared Dove had been taken but the Dove count on Saturday in the rain was up to a new high of 38. Yesterday, much corvid commotion prompted me to investigate as I thought a Cat may have caught something. As I stepped outside the large female Sparrowhawk fixed me to the spot with a piercing look, it had no problem whizzing off with it's prize in tow, another Collared Dove.

At Last!

There were at least 130 gulls on Foxhill Park this morning, when I passed, mostly Common Gulls on the ground, with BH Gulls in goal. I stopped at Ned Hill, briefly, which was very quiet: just three Magpies and a Dunnock, a couple of Crows chasing the Kestrel, and two Herons, which looked as if they were going to drop in on the other side. Ogden, which I visited briefly, was as Brian says. Nothing of note in the lanes either. However,at long last, I caught up with the white Crow at Medway (?) -the shops opposite Park Lane. Denise