Garden / Shibden Walk / Bradshaw Fields

I had a short watch from the garden this morning.

It was good to see a small skein of Pink Footed Geese (albeit miles off to the south flying west). No sooner had they appeared in the bins that the dark clouds  ate them up.

Fortunately they were picked out by MJB as they flew over Mytholmroyd - 41 in number - cheers Matthew.

Also passing by were c30 Redwing and later on a Raven flew east over the house.

After lunch we had a tough walk after parking at Swalesmoor Swimrite we walked along Hag Lane to the very end then turned left, downhill.

We got the 'apparel' wrong again as it turned very warm once we we out of the wind.

This great path leads mostly downhill to eventually bottom out at the Shibden Mill Inn I checked my wallet contents, and having only £5,000  in cash I decide to miss out on a drink here.

The next bit of the walk, up the very, very steep Lee Lane had me sweating profusely.

I doubt that I'll do this walk again in a hurry. 

Some great colours in the trees.

An interesting bird on Shibden Park lake (see mega distant photo - top left)

 Just before tea I had a short walk along the Bradshaw Fields.

Birds:-

Garden:

41 Pink Footed Geese, c30 Redwing, Raven.

Shibden Walk (Disappointing):

Great Spotted Woodpecker. 3 Mistle Thrush. 3 Jay.

Buzzard. Stonechat. A Thrush species flew from the top of a poplar tree but I cannot ID it from the photo silhouette .

Bradshaw Fields:

Nine Red Legged Partridge.

Barn Owl.

A few Gulls - all 4 Usual Species seen plus one Herring Gull that looks interesting?

Quiz:

What is the name of the transparent front part of the eye that cover the pupil?#

Shibden Walk:

Thrush Species

Shibden Park Lake.

Bradshaw Fields:-

Nine - Red Legged Partridge!

Quiz Answer:

Cornea.

Along the canal and river at Brookfoot

Went out for a couple of expensive swigs last night with DJB.

Redwing were calling almost constantly (unseen) from the fog as we legged it up Bradshaw Lane to The Raggalds.

Another grim do!

Another grim day today with thick damp, misty/foggy grot.

This afternoon I got togged up and drove down to Brookfoot, Brighouse.

A lot better visibility here but still quite grotty.

Some rain caught me as I was on my way back to the car - boo hoo.

The canal was shrouded in mist in places (water colder than the air above it I guess?) very atmospheric.

Some loony came past doing 30mph on a souped up bike affair.

Mostly a canal walk but I had a short look at the river and a very awkward squint through the Ski-lake trees.

Birds:-

2 Moorhen. 1 Canada Goose.

c10 Cormorants. 1 Goosander.

The four 'usual' Gull species on the lake.

4 Tufted Duck.

Collared Dove.

1 Mute Swan.

A Kingfisher dashed past, in the rain, near Avocet Works as I was nearly back at the car.

Quiz:-

The serval. oncilla and margay are all species of which animal?

Quiz Answer:-

Cat.

Bradshaw Fields - very poor visiblity

A really poor day today, damp and gloomy with very poor visibility.

There was a very slight improvement mid-afternoon as I had a short walk along the local field paths.

Peering through the misty stuff I did locate a few birds.

Top of the shop was a Little Owl that popped up onto a telegraph pole as I was nearly home.

(A new place to see it for me)!

Birds:-

Little Owl.

Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon.

Blackbird, 4 Wren, Dunnock,

A few Small Gulls in the fields and a few passed over head, appearing out of the gloom.

Also some very faint calls heard of possibly 

1, A Red Legged Partridge and 

2.A Chiffchaff 

but I am not betting the farm on me being right.

Quiz:

What is the proper name for your front teeth?

(Dentures is not the answer here!).

The Raggalds Inn this a.m.

Quiz Answer:

Incisors

Local Fields (Again)

On the buses this morning with the 502 to Keighley quickly followed by the Bradford - Keighley shuttle as far a East Riddlesden Hall.

We then walked along the canal into Bingley, called in to the jam packed Wetherspoons for a very enjoyable small  lunch.

Nothing much, bird wise, seen on the walk just 9 Mute Swan.

Later on I had my now usual late-ish walk along the local fields.

A very sunny day - quite cold in Bradshaw early on which fooled us into pitting too many layers on - sweating a tad by the time we got to Bingley!!

Birds:-

Chiffchaff.

2 Little Owl.

2 Mistle Thrush.

4 Meadow Pipit.

c20 Gulls.

Barn Owl.

Great Spotted Woodpecker a long way off!!

Quiz:

Elapidae, acanthopis and taipan are all types of which animal?

Gull mobbed by Jackdaws

Quiz Answer:

Snakes.

Ringstone / Local Fields Again

We took Emma to Craggies Café this afternoon and afterwards I had a short stint at Ringstone.

It was very, very calm with no wind and the water like a looking glass.

The farmer was doing something very technical ,with a tractor and an accoutrement ,to the ploughed field which probably did not help.

Nothing much on the water when we arrived but lots of Gulls on the water as we drove off later.

A distant piece of wood attached to a fence post (that I ignored at first) flew off and morphed into a Green Woodpecker - no photo - doh!

Late afternoon I had my usual walk along some very calm and quiet local fields.

A short garden sky watch this a.m. did not reveal Owt - a Mistle Thrush inspected my leaf sweeping skills from a telegraph pole though.

Quiz:

In which US T.V. series would you find the characters Kima, Greggs, William Rawls and Beadie Russell?

Birds:-

Ringstone:

Many, many Gulls.

Lapwing. Starling.

Rook, Carrion Crow. Jackdaw.

c30 Goldfinch.

Greenfinch.

8 Pied Wagtail.

At least 3 Stock Dove.

Mallard.

Bradshaw Fields:-

Red Legged Partridge calling - distant - unseen.

2 Little Owl.

Pheasant.

Wren.

A few Small Gulls.

Peregrine Falcon seen in Halifax.

Ringstone:

Trying to turn this blob into a Golden plover!!!!

Bradshaw Fields:

Quiz Answer.

The Wire.