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.

Local Fields

Abi with us today and the bit of my garden sky watch this morning was... whatever!

I had an early afternoon birding  walk along the local fields.

Cool and drafty but not a bad outing given that I only cross 3 fields!

On our way back from dropping Abi at Wakefield the heavens opened and there was some unusual cloud formations.

At the roundabout, before the Odsal Top one, a Buzzard was being mobbed by crows.

Birds:-

4 Blackbird. House Sparrow. Chaffinch. Woodpigeon.

C10 Common Gull. 2 Black Headed Gull. 6 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

2 Little Owl (at least). Green Woodpecker.

At least 2 Stonechat distant (possibly 4 - could not see 4 together though).

Kestrel mobbed by 3 Jackdaw.

Mistle Thrush. 2 Meadow Pipit.

Singing Chiffchaff.

Wren. Dunnock. 

Greenfinch heard from the garden later.

Quiz:

Which actress starred in Little Children, Enigma and All the King's Men?

Answer lower down.

Quiz Answer:-

Kate Winslett

Local Birding

A cold bright sort of day with cloud building as the day progressed.

The first Autumn frost on the car windscreen this a.m.

I did some 'viz-mig' sky watching from about 8:30 am to 9:30 a.m. (awaiting Alec -Alec-trician that is) from the garden but saw very little from my vantage point.

The 'highlight' of this stint was a flock of large birds strung out, miles off, over Halifax > East.

No sooner had I seen them than they were eaten up by the building opposite our house obscuring my view.

No one else reported seeing them and no photo so I'll write them of as Canada Geese.

DJB reported some Whoopers he saw from Soil Hill but these did not materialise in my airspace alas.

Later, I enjoyed two short outings up the local fields.

The morning visit was cold and bright but the late afternoon visit was plagued by nuisance light rain.

Birds:-

(a.m.).

Stonechat, 2 Little Owls.

3 Wren, 5 Meadow Pipit, 10 Common Gull.

A singing Chiffchaff.

(p,m.).

12 Common Gull . 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull Over head.

Great Spotted Woodpecker.

4 Red Legged Partridge.

2 Mistle Thrush.

Little Owl.

2 Meadow Pipit.

Chaffinch.

Quiz.

Which band released the album Tranquillity Base Hotel in 2018?

Answer lower down.

Quiz Answer:

Arctic Monkeys.