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The weather forecast looked favourable so we decided on a day out in a westerly direction, this would be out of Yorkshire so with passport in had we headed into  Lancashire and landed at Southport, Marshside RSPB reserve at about 10:30am to see lots of Pink footed Geese flying over the marsh.

We headed to the Visitor Centre first, toilet stop, whilst there we had a look over the marsh to find various ducks and waders Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Mallard, Wigeon, Black tailed Godwits, Avocets, Redshank, Black headed Gulls

Male Teal

Other birds of note were Canada Geese, Starling, Lapwings with Golden Plovers, Grey Heron with elusive Little Egrets. We decided on a walk across the road onto the marsh, keeping to the footpaths of course, here we found Skylarks, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch and a couple of Male Wheatears

Wheatear posing for the camera

Back to the car due to the now dark skies and only just in time as the heavens opened, so much for the weather forecast, but we watched the gulls flying past the car as we ate dinner and added a Common Gull to the day list.

We moved off and headed towards Yorkshire once again, can’t stop away too long, but first we stopped off at the Brockholes Nature Reserve next to the M5 for a coffee, not much happening here due to the strong cold winds and rain. Watching from the visitor centre with coffee in hand we saw Pied Wagtails, Coot, Moorhen, Black headed Gulls, Grey Heron and Tufted Duck, rushing back to the car we got sight of a few Sand Martins overhead. Looks like a good reserve, big and a few things for the children as well, it’s the  first time we’ve been so maybe well be back when its warmer

Day List in no particular order :-

Mute Swan, Wigeon, Black tailed Godwit, Redshank, Avocet, Common Snipe, Black headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Little Egret, Pink footed Goose, Canada Goose, Shoveler, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Tufted Duck, Starling, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch, Coot, Moorhen, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Wheatear, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Sand Martin, Common Buzzard[on travels]

I decided on a quick morning dip around the Healy Mills reserve to start the day and maybe catch up with some early migrants, I did find a Chiffchaff but it was probably one of the over wintering birds. The first birds on site were Mallards and Moorhen on the river Calder, Grey Heron overhead. Around the feeders were the usual Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Chaffinch and this week I got a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a large female Sparrowhawk. On the river again Tufted Duck, Goosander (3♂ 1♀) and a pair of Teal.

On the sewage farm filter beds a few Pied Wagtails with 2 pale females which had me looking a bit longer. Crows and Black headed Gull. On the old beds Common Snipe (2), Teal, Shoveler. Coot, Mallards and Reed Buntings. On the way back thru I managed to pick up a pair of Jay flying over along with a pair of Stock Dove but the catch of the day was a brief sighting of a Kingfisher heading off down river

Male Tufted Duck

I decided on a day out taking time off work for a bit of therapy to the East Coast for a little bit of photography taking in Filey, Bridlington and the North Cave Wetlands. Just short of 50 species for the day no major highlights all common species such as Knot, Oystercatcher, Common Redshank, Guillemot, Razorbill with a couple of surprises thrown in like Little Gull and Common Seal

A more detailed report can be read at the TRIPS tab and scroll down to “Yorkshire Front Page” and then “East Coast Feb 2014” or if you like at this link

By clicking this   and if you would like to look at some photos of the day you can see them at My Flickr Site by Clicking This

Oystercatcher

Common Redshank

Friday 21st turned out to be a busy day first off was a morning visit to the new reserve at Healey Mills first birds encountered were Mallard and Common Teal on the river calder. In at the feeders were Dunnock, Robin, Blue Tit, Long tailed Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, and Wren.

On at the farm plenty of Black headed Gulls, Oystercatchers (2), Teal (c50), Shoveler (3♂ 2♀), Common Snipe (14). On the filters beds Crows, Pied Wagtails, Grey Wagtails (3) and Reed Bunting, surprise of the morning was a Fox on one of the pools

Great Tit

Healey Mills birds in no particular order :-

Magpie, Crow, Robin, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Long tailed Tit, Black headed Gull, Mallard, Teal, Shoveler, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Song Thrush, Cormorant, Goosander, Grey Heron, Chaffinch, Oystercatcher, Common Snipe, Pheasant, Wren, Bullfinch, Fox

The second part of the day, pm, was a visit to Old Moor RSPB and or was port of call was at the Tree Sparrow farm were the second surprise of the day was a Weasel near the little pool running around in and out of the stone work, at the feeders were Brambling, Chaffinch, Blackbird. Straight on then to the Wath Ings hide were we saw Pochard, Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Lapwing, Teal, Starling. On our way back we stopped off at the Field Pool hide were we picked up a couple of Dunlin and had a chat with a young lad with his grand parents telling us all he had seen and wanted to see, after he had correctly ID the Dunlin, great to see the younger end coming thru

We then had a visit to Broomhill Flash where the only birdlife different was a pair of Goldeneye

Birds at Old Moor :-

Brambling, Chaffinch, Collard Dove, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, lapwing, Starling, Robin, Moorhen, Coot, Pochard, Little Grebe, Canada Goose, Common Gull, Dunlin

Tufted Duck

Weasel

I was due to meet up with somebody this morning to have a tour of one of “The Patch” reserves that I hadn’t been able to get on due to it being a restricted access site but that wasn’t till 9:30am so I had time to drop in on Sands Lane on my way.

Sands Lane still has the  Great Northern Diver present and once again in the middle of the large lake, which I didn’t mind this time because I left the DSLR at home. Along with the Diver…Great Crested Grebe (2), Tufted Duck (10..7♂ 3♀), Coot, Mute Swan, Mallard, Black headed Gulls. I moved on then to the weir to find more Black headed Gulls, Common Gull (1), Mallard, Canada Geese, Goosander (1♂ 1♀)

Female Goosander

It was then time to move on to the new reserve at Healey Mills, I meet up with my guide for the morning and having passed security we were soon on the reserve negotiating our way around the now fallen trees from this weeks storms. Moving thru the vegetation we were soon upon the area were the feeders are looking at Blue Tit, Great Tit, Reed Buntings, Dunnock, Blackbirds, Stock Dove, Chaffinch and Robins. Hitting the second area we had to put on our hard hats and hi-vis vests or risk being thrown off site, more Reed Buntings could be seen on the filter beds along with Pied and Grey Wagtail. Around by the still ponds Shoveler, Teal and Common Snipe on the nearby river Goldeneye, Goosander, Cormorant and Mallard. A quick mornings tour to a site I hope to be seeing a bit more of, unfortunately only half this site falls within the HBW area.

I managed a very quick tour of Sands Lane this morning and found the Great Northern Diver was still present, nice surprise, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Black headed Gulls, Common Gulls were also on the same lake.

Round at the weir were Mute Swan, Canada and Greylag Geese, Mallard, Goosander ♂♀, and a fly over Grey Wagtail

Great Crested Grebe

Out on the local Patch this Morning at Horbury Wyke it was cold, dull, grey and overcast not the ideal day for the new Sigma 150-500mm lens a couple of photos were managed but the ISO was very high, anyway the birds.

Horbury Wyke runs along side of the river calder and includes some filter beds on the nearby Yorkshire Water plant. The birds today on the river included cormorant, Grey Heron, Moorhen, Mallard, Goldeneye ♂ ♀, Goosander ♂, Little Grebe, Mute Swan (1), in the bushes and trees I found Jay, Goldcrest, Long tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch and Bullfinch, on the filter beds plenty of Black headed Gulls and Pied Wagtails and a zipping thru Sparrowhawk. Finally arriving by the railway bridge where there is a few horse fields I picked up a few thrush species Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Blackbirds along with Starling and a large flock of Goldfinch where I also found a single Treecreeper

Goldcrest

Back to somewhere familar and this time I had a new toy along with me a new lens a Sigma 150-500 f5-6.3 DG OS HSM, I have only had this lens 3 days but in the short time that I have used it I have loved every minute. Okay it’s big and heavy but seeing the pictures that come out of the camera compensates for it, its lovely and silent, it’s not quick to focus, at the moment I have no problem taking pictures handheld, time will speak for itself, at the moment I love it.

Bact to the birds and the car park feeders are always the first port of call, here we saw Tree Sparrow, Greenfinch, Brambling, Dunnock, Collard Dove, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch.

In the reserve we skipped the garden hide (full) and walked up to the family hide for our first port of call. From here we saw Black headed Gulls, Common Gulls, Lesser Black backed Gulls, Little Grebe, Wigeon, Gadwall, Goldeneye (1♀), Cormorant, Lapwing, Starling, Canada Goose, and Tufted Duck.

On then to the furthest hide and Wath Ings and here we saw more of the same Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal. We came back via the Wader Scrap hide where we saw plenty of Goosander, Shovelers, Goldeneyes (♂ and ♀), it was here that we saw a Common Buzzard fly over towards the field pool area.

Calling in at the Tree Sparrow farm we added Yellowhammer and Bullinch

The day list in no order :-

Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Brambling, Linnet, Bullfinch, Tree Sparrow, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long tailed Tit, Woodpigeon, Collard Dove, Robin, Blackbird, Common Buzzard, Crow, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Goosander, Goldeneye, Lesser Black backed Gull, Common Gull, Black headed Gull, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Canada Goose, Jackdaw, Magpie, Pheasant

Black headed Gulls

I had the chance this weekend of a quick tour around Sands Lane, Mirfield where the Great Northern Diver [Video] is still present, this bird is easily viewed from the roadside were good views can be had, along with Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Mute Swan, and  Black headed Gulls.

With some looking smaller birds could be found around the bridleway Dunnocks. Blue Tit, Great Tit, , Blackbirds and Goldfinch were all seen, a good couple of hours early morning walk.

A day out to a new venue (I hope to be throwing in more new venues this year) Sherwood Forest or Budby Common. We found it to be a well run place with good facilities and places to eat.

The birds were good straight from the start in the car park, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Nuthatch (these are plenty here), however these were not our quarry for today the birds we had come to see were about an hours walk away from here on the common. The birds were good on our journey thru the forest we saw plenty of Great Tit, Blue Tit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbirds, Coal Tit and Chaffinch, there were bird tables scattered thru out the forest were you got views of these birds we even got close to Marsh Tit. We finally got to the place were the birds where, after going thru mud and puddles, and it wasn’t long before we had a first views of the Parrot Crossbills thanks to the gathered crowd. A lifer for me so we stayed a while had dinner a watched the birds antics, the bill is much heavier and shorter than the common crossbill, giving it that Parrot look, the bird is also bigger than the Common Crossbill, with the plumage being the same, the birds breed in the Pine Forests of North West Europe into Russia, with a very small population in Scotland. The status in the UK are a rare migratory breeder, Amber Status, with only a few records per year (collins bird guide 2nd Edition) (RSPB Info)

Site at SK617689 (N53.213675 / W-1.077270)

The Day List :-

Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Jacdaw, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Marsh Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Blackbird, Dunnock, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Parrot Crossbill, Rook, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon

Blackbird