Thursday 7 June 2018

A fair old clog

10:30 - 16:10

A good outing today, quite cool when I set off but soon half my gear was in the rucksack.
Very warm in the afternoon.
I went up Taylor Lane to Percy Road, did the Soil Hill circular (sounds like a bus route) and along Ned Hill Track.

Birds here were:-

Little Owl, Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit,5 Swallow.
4 Skylark, 3 Curlew, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Kestrel.
Definitely 4 Whitethroat but probably more.
Moorhen. Pr. Stock Dove.

Coal Lane just had Pheasant, Swallow, Chaffinch knocking about.

12:15 Ogden Area:

Sparrowhawk, Grey Wagtail, Lesser Black-backed Gull.
One Black Headed Gull.

Instead of the usual circuit I decided to give Ogen Woodland a decent looking over.
I headed up the Withen's Track and took the second stile on the right into woodland.
The path winds through small trees and bushes - ideal for Redstart in my humble opinion.
The path drops down a bit and turns left through conifers before dropping steeply down to cross the beck.
My path then rose very steeply keeping to the north edge of the woods and eventually arriving at the stile near Giant Tooth.

The large turbines seemed very near but in reality they are  quite a distance away.

Birds hereabouts:-

6 Singing Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Mistle Thrush and Robin - no Redstart alas.
Surprisingly very few birds in 'ideal' terrain?
A look for Spotted Flycatcher failed - it was quite windy here.
A singing Blackcap was heard but not seen.
A Kestrel appeared soon to be mobbed by a Swift.
A further 5 Swift came along as the Kestrel headed for pastures new.

14:00 Back at Ogden Water:

Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Pheasant.

I crossed Back Lane quite a way up and went along a path that passes a ruin to arrive at a bridleway that leads unerringly to Denholme Velvets.

A bit more happening in this area.

3 Curlew were calling and flying about.

I was pleased to recognise a calling Reed Bunting.
After searching for the bird among the reeds, for quite a while, the bird appeared at the top of a tree nearby.
Reed Bunting is one of my favourite birds, but I do not see them as often as I would like.

Also here 2 Lapwing.
A pr. Kestrel were flying together.

A real bonus (for me) a Snipe.
It flew overhead and landed within 20 yds - then completely disappeared in the reeds.

A pr. of Weasel (I believe) were moving about in the wall right next to the path.
I fired off 2 quick pics and amazingly got them in the shots.
As I passed they seemed quite aggressive making a loud harsh 'Clicking' sound - presumably to warn me off.
They may have had young - anyway I left them be.

Just a few House Sparrow seen on the way down to Denholmegate Road.

I went from here to Asa Nicks café for a snack.

A Curlew was calling from the Shay Fields as I went along Thornton Road to the café.

The walk home along the very busy Denholmegate Road had a few Corvids on the farm shop tip and a ,dry, Raggalds field held a Lapwing.

3 guys were climbing the massive Pylon near the pub - better them than me.

A really enjoyable outing with a few 'better' birds to show for the effort.











Go on punk - make my day.
The Clint Eastwood look I think.


Not sure what Gull this is yet.









Soil Hill in the distance




The path from Back Lane , north.


















Spot the Weasel


There you are - top right peeking out


And again


behind the foliage.











2 comments:

  1. The bird with the Kestrel looks like a harrier have you got any more photos of this bird.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That raptor looks very interesting John

    ReplyDelete