Sunday 10 March 2024

whooper swans in the fog

whilst waiting at the top of free school lane for my brother to pick me up for the trip to selby for mothers day  heard whooper swans calling sounded to be heading west but given the fog not seen 

cumbria

 we always go away for colettes birthday, so this year we headed to allonby in cumbria 

lovely airbnb across from the beach 





Monday 8 January 2024

the wirral

after what seems likes weeks of crap weather saturday was looking good......so friday night we choose to go somewhere different New Brighton! 
great little area, lots of free parking, big beaches, and great views over liverpool.
then onto hoylake again free parking with veiws of hilbre island and the welsh coast.
last stop parkgate made a brew in the van and set up the scope i bought in june but its the first time used it away from mytholmroyd!!!! a Vanguard 82ed a , heavy but that gives me a sense of solidness performed well given the afternoon light, as we watched a female marsh harrier sat on a post for an hour 

nice day out finished off with a KFC from cheshire oaks tasty 






 

Monday 18 December 2023

best self found birds

 nationally 

yellow breasted bunting fair isle august 1989 

oriental pratincole blakney point 4th june 1993 

broad billed sandpiper at hicksons flash fairburn ings 12th may 1996 (first for west yorkshire)

night heron thorne moors june 1996 (first for thorne moors)

raddes warbler beacon lane kilnsea october 2005 

home calderdale 

its where i spend most time birding so not a surprise ive found a few decent birds, with most being seen at elland gravel pits which i went nearly daily from 1987 to 2000, despite it now being called cromwell bottom it will always be EGP to me!! sadly the place is now too overgrown 


anyway i think the rarest bird ive found is

grey headed wagtail june 1990 Elland Gravel Pits 

i was watching the spotted sandpiper from near the banking that separates the 2 lagoons when i saw a wagtail flying towards me it looked to have some yellow so i thought grey wagtail, as it got closer it was an overall yellow/green colour with a dark head,it landed on the lagoon but was not seen again 

i carried on my walk puzzled by the wagtail, i had seen yellow wagtail before in the uk  but never with a dark head 

that evening on returning home i phoned tony gough(bradford recorder and friend) to tell him of my find 

he said it sounds like a blue headed wagtail, i was happy with that conformation and recorded it as such 


the next day after work i cycled to EGP, i headed to the lagoons parked my bike by the canal lock and walked down the dip to the lagoon where i saw tony gough mick cunningham and tony cunningham, i asked 'spotted sand?' the reply was 'no' a bit bemused i asked what you looking at? tony said 'your wagtail....its grey headed wagtail'

for a 17 year old birder it was validation 


now was it coincedence that the last time i saw tony gough was on tresco at the turks head we enjoyed a few pints before the boat back to st marys that would be 1998 and we talked about the wagtail 'a cracking find lad" 

and mick cunningham the last time i saw him was on beacon lane kilnsea we had a good chat and we ended up finding a radde's wabler 





Thursday 31 August 2023

migrants

 spent alot of time walking recentley with the hope of finding some migrants its been hardwork but very rewarding few weeks 


redstart 1 pinnicle lane

spotted flycatcher great jumps farm

lesser whitethroat 1 hawksclough

whitethroat withens clough res

balckcap withens clough res 

wheatear 9 various sites 

also 


merlin 1 male 

little owl 1

good numbers of finches around daisy bank 

goldfinch 100+

linnet 20

siskin 40+

bullfinch 9 great jumps 


yep a good few weeks 

Sunday 18 June 2023

home for a few hours

 last 2 weeks working in romford which is not a bad town 

so last week van trip to holymm just a few miles up the road from spurn spent most of the day seawatching but nothing of interest but nice to just getaway 






Monday 29 May 2023

mytholmroyd bank holiday weekend

 highlights 


hobby over sunday evening grasshopper warbler daisy bank oh house martins lots of