the RSPB what is it good for???

£40 a year for what?

firstly they only like nice birds ,if your a Ruddy duck then your fucked,cos you may fly to spain and fuck a white headed duck.why not kill the fuckers that are shagging the spanish white headed ducks,not the ones in spain/portugal leave the ones in leeds alone.

secondly ,why do you turn good birding sites into theme parks?most of the data for a site comes from birders.

yet the RSPB would rather have records from the public,ergo the public are not birders.

reserves not worth visiting are all the ones in yorkshire ie

fairburn they stuck a parking ticket machine in the car park,and the hides are miles away from the birds

old moor well they fucked it up completely,the area was better 20 years ago,here you can see nothing from the paths

bempton avoid the charges for the car park by parking on the road, and as its a cliff what the fuck do the RSPB do? nothing just take your money

rant over

redstart elland now thats a good one !

set off around 12 and headed towards Elland.

from the house i dropped over exley towards elland with the intention of having a look around the woodland to the east of the A629 which was storth brickworks.alas nothing left just a few ponds.

as i headed up the hill from elland towards ainleys a bird flew out of the bush,the bright red tail meant it had to be a redstart,it landed in a willow tree and surely enough a male redstart was found! it flitted round for a minute or so before flying off towards the A629.

a great find in such a location especially in spring when such migrants usually head straight to the breeding grounds.

i texted dave sutcliffe with the news.

nick d rang me for the exact location but never saw the bird.

redstart

elland

the rest of the walk was rather dull,though the old mink farm looks good for photography,if it wasnt up such a big fucking hill

there's one near you!

had a visit to norland moor this morning

is it just me or are there loads of chiffchaffs and willow warblers? heard loads today.

now im wandering around and i see this.....................tall fencing topped with razor wire and a telegraph pole??

the gate was open so i let myself in...................what is it?

yes calderdale had its own part in the 'cold war'





like the title says theres one near you!!!!!

brickworks,birds and bacon butties

up at 0530 but didnt leave the house till 10! called for g and set off at 1030.first stop the butty shop at the end of union street south, after browsing the extensive menu g opted for bacon and black with brown sauce and my good self a bacon sausage and mushroom.god it was fucking fantastic.

past the pump room then the minster towards matalan for the long steep hike up old bank then onwards and upwards over beacon hill,with the hard part out of the way we made our way down dark lane aka the magna via towards badger lane,then to hipperholme brickworks,willow warblers and chiffchaffs were singing along with the odd blackcap.

after a good look around the brickworks we headed down sunny vale towards brookfoot then onto the gravel pits,which had quite a few swallows but little else of note.

a quick pint in the barge and barrel then onto salterhebble,14 swallows over the fields before the bridge and 3 blackcaps along the towpath.

chiffchaff

elland

the best of both.................its all 'starfish'

about 10 years ago i went towards great manshead hill for a barn owl,which turned out to be an escape! i always wondered what the bunker was for.................................

................This was the operations bunker for a 'Starfish' decoy intended to draw German bombers away from their intended target, in this case the railway station and yard at Greetland. The decoy consisted of a double line of about a dozen flash pans, where oil would be burned to simulate incendiary bombs. There would also have been decoy lights and shadow buildings, possibly constructed using walling stone from alongside some of the enclosure period tracks in the area. The bunker consists of two rooms either side of a central entrance passage, defended by a high blast screen. The room on the right housed the generators. The control room was on the left, with a escape / observation hatch in the roof. The decoy itself was located to the south west in the area leading towards Great Manshead Hill.

the blast wall

bunker

the decoy is the obvious pale grass

i have a new alarm clock!!!

can you see my new alarm clock which went off at 03:30 this morning? noisy big bugger woke me but i dont mind.

yes the photo is shit but its all could manage with a 50mm lens

yet more 'green birding'

so whats 'green birding'? as far as i can make out it is birding without the use of any transport whatsoever though a bicycle would be ok.

set off at 9 this morning made my way down to salterhebble then on to the gravel pits then on up through cromwell wood to southowram then down coal pit lane to home

buzzard 1 over ashday wood

blackcap 1 at salterhebble and 1 at cromwell wood the first of the year

swallow 2 along coal pit lane by the barn

chiffchaff lots dont think ive ever heard so many

willow warbler 4 in siddal and salterhebble

nuthatch 1 in cromwell wood

grey wagtail 1 at salterhebble and 1 at the barge and barrell

green woodpecker 2 around southowram

great spotted woodpecker 1 in cromwell wood

linnet 4 at coal pit lane

bullfinch 1 at west vale

not a bad little walk

shibden valley

bare head tunnel

step into the light

a snap descion this morning to go up shibden valley,walked about 10 miles the highlight was finally finding bare head tunnel

the birding was good too

swallow 1 pair set up at the large farm house along blake hill end

willow warbler 1 singing at upper lane

chiffchaff about 16 in various locations

lapwing 1 pair on swalesmoor

sparrowhawk 1 female over ploughcroft,1 over upper shibden hall,1 male by water scout and another female in siddal

green woodpecker at least 3 yaffling in the valley

great spotted woodpecker 1 pair at water scout

coal tit 3 disputing territory at the junction of kell lane and brow hill

mallard 1 pair at the old peoples home in horley green which was odd as the nearest water is shibden park

siddal to wheatley valley and back

a day off today

upto 21 chiffchaffs heard singing in various places on the walk,also the first willow warbler of the year singing in the old tip at shroggs along with a great spotted woodpecker.

a kingfisher on the hebble at wheatley was a nice find.

geraldine is a perfoming monkey!!!

my mate geraldine texted me last night......

g 'still on for a walk tommorrow?'

me 'yep'

g 'where you thinking?'

me 'snake hill wood,meet at aldi's carpark at 1'

g 'sounds scary and i have had better meeting places'

so off we went into snake hill wood along the very ill named angel road ,we had a look for Birks Hall near brackenbed road but no luck.

a burnt out fiat punto made for some great photos.across the old shroggs tip and on to the new council tip.

had a good look around the outside of old lane mill,made more interesting by me saying 'watch out for needles' which geraldine replied 'thats not something you hear everyday'

into town we went and headed for the gibbet

us Halifax people are very proud of our gibbet and Halifax was the last place in england to chop off peoples heads!!

off to the gibbet you go

ready

ta da survived!

ooo a monitor

its amazing

im on telly

happy in car

not sure i like it

yes! ill take it!

around the town center

well the easter holidays are drawing to a close ,so i had a walk around the center of halifax town!!!

very quiet on the bird front only the following of note

coal tit nest building at pheobe lane mills

grey wagtail 1 over shaw lodge mill

goldfinch 2 along union street south

chiffchaff 1 singing by the paris gates

redwing 1 by north bridge above dean clough

druggies paradise

snake hill wood the return!

well i returned to snake hill wood after febuarys tramatic visit!!

very little apart from a jay and 3 chiffchaff.

a female sparrowhawk went over nestles factory