september

 lots of walking around erringden moor which i like due to its somewhat varied habitat 

resulted in 

3 whinchats

3 little owls 

1 blackcap

1 lesser whitethroat 

a nice flock of lapwings and golden plover 

a trip to scarbourgh 21st-22nd was pants with only a arctic skua and sooty shearwater seen at cloughton 

28th september 

morning in hebden coffee and charity shops, then around midday i headed off up erringden  birding was bitty with 30+ pink footed geese heading nw 3 little owls 5 stonechats 4 raven after 6 miles my feet were killing and headed over stubbs field as i walked over paddy bridge a calling bird stopped me dead a yellow browed warbler!!! 

it was with a tit flock feeding in the sycamores along paddy bridge road, still present on sunday but moved to the corner of stubbs field great bird 

mytholmroyd july 2024 to now

 most of my birding has been around mytholmroyd, colettes garden or air space above is great for just sitting and watching 

1st july greenshank west calling over garden 

13th july wood warbler broadhead clough 

18th july barn owl over the garden at dusk 

28th july hobby seen from the garden for an hour feeding amongst black headed gulls watched it catching flying ants a great display hirundines seemed non-plussed 

4th august a long 7 mile walk resulted in a yellow wagtail in fields near my favourite area pinnicle farm 

5th august small flock of common scoter flew west 22:15

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also got a few pairs of binoculars on the way to add to my modest collection a pair of bushnell excursion ex 7x36 which im hoping to use as a everyday pair and a pair of bushnell elite 8x43. i love my meopta meostar 8x42 but they give me a odd view when sky watching,great watching birds in bushes etc but not  near as good as my original bausch and lomb elites the slick looking version from 1992 which i paid £600 for 32 years ago 

brighton again

brighton is a special place for me.......my first real girlfriend ended up at the university of sussex in falmer and we spent lots of time in brighton but that was many years ago i went out with a woman who worked at roedean school which was is not far from where i slept for the weekend 

our boy fell in love some 4 years ago and moved to brighton to be with his girlfriend river. the trouble is brighton is crap for birds its just too busy.

so after a long drive south after setting off at 5am we ended up at bishop stowford a nice town in essex where i bagged a pair of levis sonetti shorts and a fat face t-shirt  from the charity shops 

my only gripe with the M25 is its not circular as you have to come off at the A21 then get back on. why the M21 takes first choice is anyones guess 

even im boring myself so a few med gulls past the marina a turnstone and a yellowhammer in cambridgshire 

 

a coffee and fag is good

 so thursday 13th june im outside the house enjoying my black coffee and ciggie when i look up and see a little egret flying quite low overhead heading west towards hebden bridge, it was quite a surreal moment but a great sighting for me and the garden list only my third ever in calderdale semi-retirment from joinery is good 

little egret you mave to zoom in 

moor raptors over mytholmroyd

 bit of a slog this weekend for birds 

i was struggling to see anything other than breeding birds namely house martins sand martins over the house plus lots of swifts and swallows,grey wagtails are doing well with at least 6 pairs seen on various walks 

a raven over on saturday evening was the first for a few weeks and 2 buzzards soaring high over the valley when around 11am a slimmer thinner winged raptor appeared quite high being mobbed by crows bins grabbed and i was looking at a female type marsh harrier coming down cragg valley it then started circling reaching the river getting higher and higher before heading east down the river excellent bird

perfect raptor weather

 a nice walk on saturday morning very warm with a nice breeze 

a cuckoo sang for ages from daisy bank a lone lost looking lapwing flew south a snipe drummed and and a curlew curlewed which was nice 

2 gulls flew east lesser black adult and herring gull 3rd year lots of meadow pipits and skylarks singing then as i reached the head of the woodland a large raptor flew purposley towards the wood a large accipter 

overall a bulky solid looking bird and quite a curvy appearance not the small angular look of sparrowhawk, never got much on plumage as i was looking south-south-east into the sun so it was more of a shillouette but as it dropped below the trees the browner upperparts were seen,it just glided into the woods and must have been the same bird i saw last week soaring above the valley 

last week it wasnt as straight forward as it gave the usual chameleon views at first it looked like a falcon then a buzzard 

a crap description of goshawk 

after getting back enjoying the weather a bird was high up heading north grabbed the meopta bins a red kite!!!! it had some lost feathers to the primaries which match a photo on facebook of one seen near hebden bridge a few days earlier 

mytholmroyd weekender

 so at my second home in the Royd im sat in the garden with colette and jessie enjoying a beer with loads of house martins and a few swifts over the garden great sound then around 2038 a large bird appears high over the garden a gull a buzzard no a osprey heading sw fantastic bird and a garden tick stunned we enjoyed our evening but colette had northern lights on her mind now colette has always wanted to see them and despite trying a number of times failed. so she goes to bed around 2245 i stayed up but headed to bed around 10 minutes later. at 2320 my phone buzzed with a message from the swillington bird group saying "northern lights over the reserve now" off outside in dressing gown took some crap photos but was sure i saw some green/purple so i woke her at 2330 with the words "there here"within seconds she was up.......and what a display the colours changed from blue to purple to green it danced in the sky stunning just stunning

at 1 am we headed to bed after what was just stunning 

saturday jessies days of long walks on the moors are in the past but me being giddy just had to have a walk so five miles later im back with a cuckoo heard and goshawk in flight giving a great view plus redpoll 

great weekend