lesser spotted woodpecker 300 meters from the front door

set off early for a shortish walk

i was so glad i was carrying 2 cameras,id only been walking a minute or so,when no sooner as i entered stoney royd cemetery i heard a lesser spotted woodpecker drumming from near the non-conformist chapel.

in overdrive i made my way towards the little fella after a bit of searching i found him feeding high up in the tree tops,great bird and always a favourite.

got a week off work so i will be going back

lesser spotted woodpecker

stoney royd cemetery

location of the lesser spotted woodpecker

a dull and wet day

a very wet and dull day today

walked about 9 miles around southowram with a sneaky detour to lightcliffe

skylark 1 in fields at siddal
grey wagtail 2 a pair displaying at siddal
pied wagtail 1 beacon hill
jay 1 siddal brickworks

tawny owl 1 calling at shaw hill

the birding was quiet


coal pit lane no doubt named after a nearby coal pit,this place looks good for birds

'judd walls'

southowram

judd walls are very common in this part of west yorkshire,built from quarry waste to support the quarry,the wall on the left is over 10 meters in height

got home around mid afternoon then took another walk.

shaw lodge mill

pugneys more ring necked duck madness!

had a great time this afternoon at calder wetlands and pugneys cp,well apart from the dog shit and crazy dogs.with most of lakes frozen over the birds showed well.

the day briefly got better when i thought id found a female lesser scaup but i hadnt! oh well

for a shit load more photos click here

ring-necked duck

'oh hai i'm american'

'is that a ring necked duck....fuck me'

a nice shot showing the 'ring'

look in to my eye's

bombs away!!!

sunday ( a bit late.......i know)

late posting due to a bad back and trying to get the heating working!

went for a short walk yesterday.
from siddal to old lane mill then back home via the town center and shaw lodge.

very few birds about now,most of the thrushes have gone

grey wagtail 3 (2 at lilly lane and 1 old lane)
goldfinch 4 at old lane mill
herring gull 4 over dean clough
sparrowhawk 1 stony royd

never took my 400mm with me as the light was bad.

whilst walking past dean clough i thought i would try to replicate Bill Brandt's famous photo

'the snicket'

though not a proper snicket not alot has changed since it was taken in 1937

bill brandt's

snicket

1937

darrell prest's

snicket

2010

8'' of snow,-5 but still birds about

with the car stuck on a iced road,a nice snowy 10 mile walk today.salterhebble,elland gp,southowram and siddal.

it seemed very devoid of birds along the canal but 23 goosanders 2 treecreepers and dipper were good to see.

elland gp was frozen over with 34 lapwings on the lake,a small flock of redpolls flew over calling.

then onto southowram through the wood 2 tawny owls roosting high up,1 nuthatch and a coal tit

W lane leading to siddal was very quiet apart from 9 herring gulls and a great black backed gull heading west.

tawny owl

southowram

meadow pipit

southowram

lapwings

elland gp

approaching home

todays walk

well i did try and get to work i left at 0600,i made good time to oldham when the snow hit.it took another 1hour to get to stockport where the town was gridlocked after a hour of queuing and sliding around the well gritted roads(not) i gave up and headed home.

at for 10,during the 4 hours 4 inch had fallen the roads were bad(and still are)

so at midday i went for a short walk through stony royd along waterside into town then home via shaw lodge

meadow pipit 1 sheltering by a wall at the top of the street

grey wagtail 2 (1 lily lane,1 woolshops)

redwing 1 over the house

kestrel 1

around the town

stocked up the food in the yard for the robin and blackbird! and set off on a walk to shibden park

totals for the walk were

mallard 47

moorhen 7

common gull 4

black headed gull 57

stock dove 2

pied wagtail 1

grey wagtail 2

dipper 2

song thrush 5

blackbird 16

redwing 27

fieldfare 5

mistle thrush 3

nuthatch 1

long tailed tit 28

great spotted woodpecker 1

jay 3

linnet 2

goldfinch 5

bullfinch 2

total for the halifax area this year so far 57

a good long walk

a long 15 mile walk today (see map)

highlights

siddal to elland

dipper 2

grey wagtail 1

redwing 23

fieldfare 5

great spotted woodpecker 1

jay 4

mute swan 1

elland gravel pits

scaup 1

tufted duck 27

great creasted grebe 4

little grebe 2

goosander 3

sparrowhawk 1

siskin 13

teal 2

black headed gull

elland gp

common gull

elland gp

brookfoot to beacon hill (via sunny vale)

water rail 1 at sunny vale lake

jay 8

great spotted woodpecker 2

grey wagtail 1

goldfinch 21

robin

sunny vale

beacon hill to swalesmoor

common gull 2

fieldfare 46

redwing 34

mistle thrush 7

greenfinch 1

reed bunting 1

catherine slack to halifax (via old lane)

bullfinch 2

goldfinch 4

kestrel 1

halifax tc to siddal (via stony royd cemetary)

grey wagtail 1

tawny owl 2

2010 a great start!

the day started at scammonden with both juvenile great northern divers present,though distant.

the newer bird moved to the middle of the res,it spent 5 minutes preening and flapping before taking off,it circled the res 5 times before heading north ringstone maybe?

great northern diver

(bird 2)

bird #1 was still by the dam doing a nice feeding routine and coming very close at times

great northern diver

(bird 1)

then onto elland gp

1 scaup 1st winter male

2 pochard male

4 goldeneye 2m 2f

4 g c grebe

2 little grebe

cormorant

elland gp

have a great 2010