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).

Ogden Water

12:30 -14:00

A very poor morning weather wise with mist and rain.I waited until after lunch and then drove over to Ogden Water.

It was raining on my arrival but soon brightened up with a breeze, sun and white fluffy clouds.

A disappointing stroll around Ogden Water followed with nothing new seen.

Birds:-

2 Nuthatch.

2 Cormorant.

1 Tufted Duck.

1 Little Grebe.

Pied Wagtail.

Usual Gulls as far as I could make out!

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

9:45 - 13:45

A cool sunny morning warmed up but clouded up a bit as I enjoyed a 4 hour birding walk today.

Pretty quiet on Soil Hill Top but Meadow Pipit were popping up all around and 3 Skylark were up there.

I enjoyed my Yorkie Bar and a coffee when I got to Ogden Water and I did one circuit of the water.

I fared a bit better today with a few birds 'saying hello.

The water remains stubbornly low but there is rain in this week's forecast.

Lots of Pinkies reported going west but I did not see any in my bit of sky - in fact the sky was very quiet.

Birds:-

Soil Hill Area:

Wren. Robin. c30 Meadow Pipit.

3 Pheasant. 3 Skylark.

Ogden Area:

Kestrel. Buzzard. 

F. Goosander.

c170 Gulls.

3 Nuthatch.

1 Tufted Duck.

1 Cormorant. 

1 Great Spotted Woodpecker.

2 Grey Wagtail. 

1 Pied Wagtail.

Chaffinch. Goldfinch. 2 Bullfinch.

1 Little Grebe,

1 Teal.

After Ogden - Just 11 Canada Geese worth mentioning on the way home.

An hour, before dusk,  up the local fields brought nothing worth a mention alas.

Little & Large.

Large Gull High Over the House This Aft.

 

Local Fields - This Evening

I picked Abby up from school on Friday and she stayed overnight 

It was good to have her company on Saturday and we had a short park visit where we lobbed a tennis ball at a baseball bat and tried to whack it as far as we could.

Later, on her way back to Wakefield,  we met up with her dad at Hipperholme.

There were very many pony and trap types coming up the road and I wondered if they were going to the Appleby horse fair - but checking the web-thing the fair happens in June.

This evening after a late tea I had a wander up the local fields where it was bright and sunny.

There were 20 or so bullocks in the fields further along, so I did not cross them.

Birds:-

Pheasant.

2 Little Owl.

Kestrel.

12 Canada Geese.

c20 Small birds way way off, on a telegraph line that I thought were Goldfinch - not sure now - the photo is rubbish.

Pied Wagtail.

Green Woodpecker called.

A Heron - way, way off on the Bradshaw Pond.

3 Starlings.

Goldfinch - or maybe not!!