Huddsbirder

Couple of hours spare so I decided on a ride around the Ingbirchworth area to try and catch up with some local area stuff for the 2013 year list. I started out around the Broadstones Res. area where it turned out to be very quiet except for a few Black headed and Common Gulls mainly Common Gulls and a Pheasant.

I decided on a stop at the Royd Moor viewpoint for a photographic opportunity and was joined here by a Skylark in the nearby field,.After the photos I travelled on down to Ingbirchworth Res. to try and find a few water birds to make the list up. Out on the water more gulls of the same as seen earlier along with Canada Geese, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebe (2)

Coot at Ingbirchworth Reservoir

A Christmas present resulted in a weekend trip to London from the 25^th it wasn’t a birding trip as such but you’re always on the lookout for something no matter where you travel. We decided on travelling M1 to j15A then cutting down to the M40 and travelling in that way for a certain bird. When we hit the M40 there were Red Kites everywhere, we had nether seen as many apart from Gigrin Farm, we carried on enjoying the spectacle as we travelled towards London.

The hotel we were stopping in, Reading Lake Hotel, is nicely located on a lake side so here we were able to overlook the lake from the apartment balcony  to see Shoveler, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Red Kite, Black headed Gull, Common Gull, and Mute Swan. An Early evening walk around one of the lakes gave us sightings of Coot, Moorhen, Long tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin.

The journey back home was uneventful only seeing Ring-necked Parakeet (2) fly over the M4 as we made or way towards London from Windsor

The full weekend bird list (In no particular order) :-

Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Canada Goose, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Coot, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, European Robin, Common Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Common Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Common Starling, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, 

thought we would have a change this weekend and take a trip out to Fairburn Ings for a little change of scenery, on the way out we caught sight of 12 Waxwing in the Huddersfield area, nice start to the day.

On arrival at Fairburn we made a start around the visitor centre feeders to pick up quickly a few common species House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Long tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Nuthatch (2) nice surprise along with a female Brambling. Photo opportunity at the hide watching Coal Tit, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Tree Sparrow, Canada Goose, Pheasant, Cormorant. A walk around the boardwalk gave very little else except a nice Robin

On then to the feeding area for some practice in flight shots of the Black headed Gulls

Also at the feeding area were Tufted Duck, Mute Swans, Moorhen, Coots, and Mallards

Day List in No Particular Order :-

House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Goldfinch, Brambling, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Blackbird, Nuthatch, Collard Dove, Woodpigeon, Pheasant, Coot, Moorhen, Canada Goose, Mallard, Teal, Tufted  Duck, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Black headed Gull, Grey Heron

Happy New Year and first day out to Potteric Carr but not for the birds (few and far between) but on the list today  for the 1st of Jan was Bev’s Big Breakfast and what a breakfast it was, full vegetarian Emm!

Ya! we did do a little birding and a large walk too after that breakfast, the best place at this time of year seems to be Willow Pool Hide, not far to walk from cafe as well. Here we saw the usual Finch/Tit species Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Coal Tit, also seen Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Pheasant, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Mute Swan, and Wren.

Calling in at the Kingfisher Hide to see Coot, Moorhen, Gadwall and Teal. Around Huxter Wells Gadwall, Shoveler, Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Teal, Mallard, Greylag Goose, Wigeon, Pochard, Great blacked Backed Gull, Common Gull, Black headed Gull and I think birds of the day a nice flock of Lesser Redpoll (takes the PC list to 99)

Chaffinch

Last day of the year. the weather cleared, and that’s all we needed, so we were off for a couple of hours down to Old Moor on arrival our first port of call was the bird garden to catch sight of Blue Tits, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tits, and Pheasant. We called in next to the Tree Sparrow farm to find Collard Doves, Brambling ♂♀, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Bullfinch and Robin along with more Pheasants. Dropping in at the Family Hide next to catch up with plenty of wildfowl, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye ♂, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Cormorant, Black headed Gulls, Canada Geese, Lapwings and Starlings with a few Linnets thrown in.

After Dinner onto the Bittern Hide to see Shovelers on the way, Tufted Ducks, Coots and the bird of the day one Barn Owl

Collard Doves

Huddsbider now has a New Blog site to cover Nature/Wildlife seen at work during his lunch Break, the site can be found here

http://huddsbirder1.wordpress.com/

Here we are again, arriving at dinner time so our first port of call was the cafe then it would be the reserve.

After dinner we settled in to the bird garden hide [feeders now back up] and bird present, Blue, Great, Long Tailed and Willow Tits all present, Dunnock, Robin, Chaffinch and Blackbird as support. Round at the bird farm was much off the same along with Tree Sparrow and Reed Bunting.

We called in at the Field Pool hide to see Mute Swan, Coot, Mallard, Canada Geese, Shoveler, with Lapwings and Golden Plovers seen flying overhead with Black Headed Gulls. Wader scrape hide gave us Wigeon, Common Gull, Cormorant and Grey Heron.

Finally we ended up at Wath Ings we could see the gathering of few hundred Golden Plover [Video] with Lapwings. In and amongst the Plovers we could see a couple of Redshank and Green Sandpipers and a single Common Snipe

Day off work today so I decided on visiting a site in the Huddersfield Area, something I haven’t done for a while, so I found myself at Langsett Res for a couple of hours.

First impressions were on how quiet it was there didn’t seem to be any birds around at all, no contact call or flight calls going on. The first bird I did find was a Green Woodpecker, not that it was noisy but because it was on the side of a dead tree, well it was a start. Then it was the familiar calls of geese going over head 2 large skeins of Pink Footed Geese calling as they made their way South Easterly. After these the call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker then a flight of Siskins followed by Red Grouse calling on the moors, quiet on the stream no Wagtails or Dipper about.

On the way back to the car park I was accompanied by Blue and Long Tailed Tits. Not an impressive day out but the walk was good.

Hope you enjoy the views I did.

Well it seems when we go out we cannot seem to find our way passed Old Moor, but there again why should we great team, great cafe, and great wildlife/nature on site.

Todays adventure started at the bird garden were we instantly noticed an abence of feeders and birds, later found out it is due the finch desease “Trichomonosis” so food is on the floor and not in feeders.

So we ventured up to the Tree Sparrow farm where we saw  Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow, Collard Dove, Redwing (2), Bullfinch, Robin, Chaffinch.

A visit into the Family Hide here we saw Gadwall, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull (2), Cormorant, Lapwings, Starlings, Mute Swans, Linnet.

Wader Scarpe hide was our next visit where we added a solitary Green Sandpiper to the list, Redshank, Shoveler and Teal

Lastly we called at the Wath Ings Hide where we saw good numbers of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Wigeon, and Teal along with Moorhen, Coot, Grey Heron and Mallards

Passing by the Tree Sparrow farm we called back in to find Dunnock, Great Tit and Pheasants

ROBIN

GOLDEN PLOVERS

Here we are again a few days later but Old Moor is such a diverse site I just can’t seem to keep away, plenty of wildlife to seek out and I don’t have to worry about dogs springing on me or looking out for dog poo in case the foot goes in it.  Another wader day down at the Wath Ings hide with plenty of Golden Plover and Lapwings with the small waders in and amongst,  Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Dunlin and Ruff were all present. A Kingfisher made a brief appearance on the fence near the hide but was soon off, to quick for a photo. Wildfowl seems to be building up slowly at Old Moor with good numbers of Gadwall and Wigeon, also present were Mallard, Shoveler, and Teal.

There were a few Swallows zipping thru and good numbers of Grey Herons, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorants, Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Linnets, Black headed Gulls, Starlings, Greenfinch, Long Tailed Tits plenty to see.

After dinner we had a walk on to Gypsy Marsh, along the cycle track, this is where we saw plenty of Common Darters, Migrant Hawkers and Green Shield Bugs and big Garden Spiders, Red Admiral, and Comma to finish the day off.

The Day List in no order :-

Lapwing, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Ringed Plover, Pied Wagtail, Kingfisher, Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Swallow, Starling, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Linnet, Black headed Gull, Greenfinch, Kestrel, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Crow, Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, Green Shield Bugs