Bradshaw - Soil Hill Top - Ogden Water - Bradshaw Farm Tracks

9:00 - 13:15

Over 4 hours out and about on quite a cool, cloudy and windy (Soil Hill Top) day. 

The top of the Ogden Wind Turbines were in low cloud.

It was good to chat with GH, walking his dog along  along Ned Hill Track and also to bump into NK along the Ogden Water circuit.

A few 'sizeable' flocks of finches and pipits on Soil Hill was encouraging, although they were mostly distant and very flighty.

2 in flight calls heard on Soil Hill,  that I could not place was a bit frustrating.

The calls too 'silent' and quick to be picked up by my Merlin app (even if I was quick enough to get me phone out!).

Birds:-

Bradshaw - Soil Hill Top - Ned Hill Track:

Robin. Pied Wagtail. 4 Pheasant. c50 Meadow Pipit.

c40 Linnet. c20 Goldfinch. Kestrel.

Little Owl called from near Soil Hill End Farm.

Herring Gull. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Common Gull. Black Headed Gull.

Ned Hill Road and Ogden Water.

Greenfinch. 5 Teal. 2 Cormorant.

6 Tufted Duck. Long Tailed Tit. Great Tit. Blue Tit.

c15 Chaffinch, some dropping down to feed on west side path.

I though I'd hang about in case a Brambling dropped down but there was too much foot traffic and the flock went elsewhere.

I did not eyeball anything special in the Gulls.

and a few other species.

Syke Lane - Bradshaw Farm Tracks.

Just 2 Pied Wagtail and a Kestrel worth a mention.

Bradshaw - Soil Hill Top - Ogden Water - Bradshaw Farm Track.

9:45 - 13:20

A cold bright morning clouded over mid-afternoon.

A great day for a walk as I headed off up Bradshaw Lane to do my usual jaunt.

The car park at Ogden Water was full,  but it was not too busy going round, after my coffee and KitKat in the little cafe.

The water level is still very, very low.

Birds:-

Bradshaw - Soil Hill - Ned Hill Track.

Pheasant. Herring Gull, Common Gull. Black Headed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Goldfinch. Chaffinch. Great Tit, Jackdaw, Crow, Magpie.

Blue Tit. c15 Meadow Pipit, 3 Linnet.

1 Bullfinch, 1 Skylark. Kestrel.

Stonechat - Ned Hill Track (Disappeared as soon as I eyeballed it!).

Ned Hill Road - Ogden Water - Syke Lane.

2 Nuthatch, Tufted Duck, 2 Cormorant.

2 Redhead Goosander.

Great Spotted Woodpecker. Raven, Long Tailed Tit.

Robin. Chaffinch.

Little Owl seen from Syke Lane.

Farm Track to Home.

Nothing new, just a Stock Dove and a Little Owl worth a mention.

Ogden Water

12:45 - 14:15.

The weather this morning was grim with heavy rain blown about by a very strong wind, so I thought it would be a good day to give the vac, duster and Pledge an outing, whilst singing along to a Don Williams C.D.

Whilst vac-ing about several pings came through on my telling bone reporting small groups of Redwings passing through.

I turned the vac off, got me bins out and went outside  for a quick stare at the wet sky.

I did not see any Redwing but I did get a garden tick with a Snipe that fired past in the wind!

After lunch the weather turned dry with sunny periods but the wind remained a feature so I had a drive over to Ogden Water to see if owt new had been blown in.

One circuit  of the water blew the cobwebs away but nothing new was seen, but it beats vac-ing about.

Birds:-

3 Pied Wagtail.

Jay.

2 Tufted Duck.

Chiffchaff.

Little Grebe.

3 Teal.

2 Cormorant.

Sparrowhawk.

Gulls :-

c140 West Side mostly Lesser Black-backed.

c80 East Side mostly Black Headed.

The sun's reflection on the water as I looked west from the east side path was brutal.

Some shaky Gull Videos.

Plenty of water gushing in now:-

Little Grebe being splashed by a bathing Mallard.

The droplets caught in the sunshine.

Bradshaw Fields

Not much birding done today with some shopping on the agenda and a visit to Specsavers as well.

Pretty crap timing for my optician appointment this morning on such a lovely day!

After lunch I had a walk along the local fields past Crabtree Hall Farm and back - not a lot happening.

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I made a visit to my doctor last week with a painful Big Toe.

"Take those filthy wellies off" the doctor said ,soon followed by

"and those awful smelly socks!"

He prodded me big toe with his pen - not wanting to catch owt nasty.

"Look" he said "Put this cream on you toe every day for a week"

and...

a CLEAN pair of socks on every day.

So I did as he requested.

By Friday I could not get me wellies on.

The old ones blah blah.

Birds:-

Little Owl.

10 Stock Dove.

Woodpigeon.

Black Headed Gull/

Common Gull,

Herring Gull,

Lesser Black-backed gull.

10+ Magpie.

Jackdaws.

Wren.

Robin,

Meadow Pipit.

Dunnock.

Goldcrest.

Long Tailed Tit.

Blue Tit.

Goldfinch.

Pied Wagtail

c12 Canada Geese,

A large group of very distant Corvid near Swalesmoor .

AND... 

The Jay from yesterday.

Bradshaw Fields - Ogden Water - Soil Hill etc

9:45 - 13:45

Another day, another 4 hours birding walk along my usual route.

The weather was cool, damp and cloudy when I set off but got warm and sunny later on.

It was good to chat with N.K. who I bumped into on the Ogden Water circuit and while we were chatting Pink Footed Geese could be heard to the west of us going NW by the sound of them - they remained out of sight.

It did not sound like there very many in the skein.

Earlier, a new Bradshaw Fields bird for me when a Snipe flushed from the fields as I went up the lane to Ward's View House.

Birds:-

Snipe.

c60 Canada Geese (25 Bradshaw, 35 Ogden).

2 Pheasant.

Meadow Pipit.

Pied Wagtail.

2 Cormorant

Tufted Duck.

Pink Footed Geese over head.

4 Teal.

Pied Wagtail.

2 Buzzard (1 Ogden, 1 Soil Hill ).

2 Nuthatch,

2 Bullfinch.

Usual Gulls as far as I could tell.

Raven.

Long Tailed Tit.

Jay over head.

A possible Stonechat on Ned Hill Track - no photo alas.

Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren, Jackdaw by the Bradshaw Farms.

Linnet and Stock Dove (Garden).

Blackstone Edge and Ringstone Reservoirs

I had a visit to make to Helen's at Ludd. Foot late morning and,  after tea, sausage rolls and a big bun I decided to check out Blackstone Edge reservoir.

This did not prove to be a success, so, on I went to check out Ringstone Reservoir.

This did not prove to be a success either.

You could say I was having 'one' of those days but this seemed to be 'two' of those days in one day!

The weather was very dull but dry, better than the misty, drizzly stuff I met when I got home!

Birds:-

Blackstone Edge.

5 Mallard. Meadow Pipit. 2 Canada Geese. 2 Crows.

Ringstone Reservoir.

14:00 - 15:15.

80 Canada Geese. 5 Starling. 2 Moorhen. Meadow Pipit.

Crows. 

3 Cormorant. 2 Mallard. 

c110 Gulls.

8 Pied Wagtail.

c40 Lapwing. 

Heron. 

Bullfinch.

As I was leaving by the gate, the gentleman who lives nearby, had seen a Kingfisher -(  which had just left as I reached him).