Widdop Reservoir - A Good Day Out

Earlier last week I had arranged a day out with my niece, Dawn, for this Thursday and what a cracking day weather wise it turned out to be.

Very sunny and still with some beautiful moorland scenery.

After a 10:30 breakfast in Wilds Cafe , Crossroads above Keighley we had a scenic drive through Haworth then Oxenhope and then over the moors to go through Hebden Bridge.

We passed Heptonstall and Slack and took the Widdop Road parking up for a 30 minutes birding stroll opposite the track to Gorple Reservoir.

We carried on and parked at Widdop to enjoy a walk around the perimeter of the reservoir.

On the far side the path does leave the reservoir and it is very, very boggy in places.

We left at 16:15 or so and enjoyed a well earned meal in The Raggalds Inn.

A great day all round.

Birds:-

Male and Female Wheatear.

2 Oystercatcher

8 Red Grouse.

5 Pied Wagtail.

2 Greylag Geese.

Canada Geese.

Mallards.

Raven.

"Loads" of Meadow Pipit throughout the walk.

2 Curlew.

2 Buzzard.

Linnet.

Mistle Thrush.

4 Stonechat.

Reed Bunting.

2 Pheasant.

3 Lapwing.

Starling.

Chaffinch.

Goldfinch.

Goldcrest.

Siskin.

Wren.

2 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Lizard.

Ringstone

Big Moan:

I took Emma to Wetherspoons - Sowerby Bridge for lunch today.

Sowerby Bridge has 'temporary' 3 way traffic lights at Wetherspoons and the traffic (one of which was me) was horrific.

At White Windows I phoned a couple of taxi firms to get a wheelchair taxi but both said they ' did not have one' - funny that , they had one last time I phoned.

I think the traffic fiasco had a bearing on the job!

Luckily the White Windows Mobile Van was available so we did get to Spoons - later than hoped for.

The 'two minute' drive from Fore Lane to Spoons took nearly 30 minutes.

Coming back I pushed Emma to Tesco's car park, where the van could pick us up without getting into the gridlock (mostly).

After all this guff - you guessed it - there's not a lot of birds to report.

Ringstone.

14:00 - 15:00

After Spoons I took a back road out of Sowerby Bridge and drove over to Ringstone.

It was disappointing really with a cold wind and not much about. 

A large bird? had met it's maker by the looks of a huge mass of feathers at the side of the reservoir - Goose?

Birds:-

 2 Pheasant. 

2 Mallard.

Pair Great Crested Grebe. 

4 Meadow Pipit.

2 Oystercatcher. 

2 Skylark. 

Curlew.

1 Canada Goose. 

Reed Bunting. 

Buzzard.

Bradshaw and Soil Hill (summit) - Tuesday

13:00 - 16:00

I had another afternoon birding walk up to and over Soil Hill Summit, down Ned Hill Road and along the farms tracks and fields to home.

Very windy again on Soil Hill (When isn't it?) but it remained dry even though some very dark clouds appeared periodically.

Same birds as usual, more or less with a couple of Buzzard in the mix.

c20 Fieldfare in the "Large Slab Field"  east of Soil Hill main track.

c5 Skylark were doing their best to bang out a tune against the strong wind and c10 Meadow Pipit were bobbing about - these numbers probably on the low side.

Curlew were calling and a couple were seen.

Just a couple of large Gulls over.

A Pair of Partridge flushed from distance with  are probably Grey Partridge.

Approaching home, 4 Linnet were seen near the farm buildings and a Little Owl was in its usual place on a fence.

No sign of 'soul singer' 'Ms Trina' who was absent performing her 'Snowball Wars' concert.

and even 'a wet hare' failed to show. Ho Hum.

Bradshaw Soil Hill (Summit) etc

17:00 - 19:00

A late birding walk this evening as I waited for the gales and rain to sod off.

Most of the rain had gone but the wind remained and it was mega wild on Soil Hill summit.

It was good to get some exercise and a few birds were knocking about but not the ones I was hoping for alas.

Birds:-

Bradshaw Area:

Greenfinch. Wren. Goldcrest. Goldfinch.

Long Tailed Tit. 4 Dunnock.

Great Tit. Blue Tit. Jackdaw. Crow. Magpie.

Robin. 4 Stock Dove. Woodpigeon.

1 Lesser Black-backed Gull over.

1 Curlew  (Syke Lane Fields).

Soil Hill Area:- 

4 Curlew. 4 Skylark. 3 Lapwing. 4 Meadow Pipit.

2 Grey Partridge. 2 Pheasant.

c85 Fieldfare. 2 Pied Wagtail.

(Not bad given the gale on Soil Hill Summit).

Cromwell Bottom - Common Scoter

17:20 - 18:30

I had a very pleasant week-end when Abi came to sleep over on Friday night and we went clothes shopping on Saturday morning to Halifax, rounded off with a pleasant family meal in The White Horse at Well Heads, Thornton Saturday Teatime.

So today I was looking forward to some birding but the weather was pretty poor with rain and strong winds - so instead I moved some dust about with the big noisy whilrlie thing.

Late afternoon the sky brightened somewhat so I took a run down to Brighouse to see if the Common Scoter , found by JB recently, was still present on the ski lake.

It was very windy here also, with large black clouds zooming along, but I only had one short heavy shower to contend with.

The viewing was difficult as usual through the railing and bushes and after a 20 minute  gawp with no Scoter on offer and a 'call of nature' on the cards, I sloped of to find somewhere to hide-me-sen.

After some relief - I stopped off to look at the Lagoon before returning to the viewing area.

I was in luck with the Scoter on the lake and visible through the railings and bushes.

So it was worth the trip down after all.

Birds:-

All seemed to be in 'twos'.

2 Pied Wagtail.

2 Chiffchaff.

2 Mute Swan.

2 Little Grebe.

2 Heron.

2 Coot.

2 Moorhen.

2 pr. Goosander.

c20 Herring Gulls - mobile.

3 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

3 Cormorant.

Female Common Scoter.

Local Fields

I had just a short walk across the local fields to Ned Hill Road and back this afternoon.

Windy but dry.

Birds:-

Blackbird, Starling, House Sparrow, Wren.

4 Curlew, Little Owl, Dunnock.

4 Stock Dove, Pied Wagtail.  Pr. Mallard.

Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch.

Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit , Blue Tit.

Jackdaw, Magpie, Crow, Woodpigeon.

6 Linnet, c30 Meadow Pipit. Robin.

1 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Bradshaw Lane - Soil Hill (Summit) - Ogden Water - Bradshaw Fields

 9:00 - 14:15

The rain, hail and blizzards finally migrated east leaving a lovely sunny morning but with a bitter wind on Soil Hill top.

On Soil Hill I thought I'd got one of todays target birds but I was mistaken and a "Wee Tear" ran down my cheek - soft sod what I am.

Some welcome good exercise and some good chat while I ate my butties at the Ogden Water "cafe" but nothing new on the bird front alas.

As I trudged around today I remembered  an English lesson  I had at school - 150 years ago?

We were learning about authors and after the lesson the teacher asked questions to see if we had been paying attention.

The teacher said to Johnny Smith - "Johnny, give me a sentence with the word pseudonym it it".

After some thought Johnny replied:-

"My brother Jimmy was washing dad's car. He put half a bottle of Fairy washing up liquid in the water in the bucket. Very soon he had some "Sud on him".

Birds:-

Bradshaw Lane to Ogden Lane.

3 Starling.

A weird call from Taylor Lane lower midden as a Partridge sized bird flushed from distance.

2 Grey Partridge flushed from Soil Hill West side banking.

2 Linnet. Woodpigeon. Greenfinch.

Dunnock. 2 Pied Wagtail. 18 Meadow Pipit.

4 Curlew. 3 Skylark.

Moorhen. 3 Canada Geese. Mallard.

3 Pheasant. 2 Lapwing. Kestrel.

Stock Dove. 2 Buzzard.

Ogden Area:

Goldcrest. Chaffinch. 

Coat Tit. Blue Tit. Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit.

Mistle Thrush, Pheasant.

Chiffchaff. Wren. Goldfinch.

3 Herring Gull.

Skye Lane - Bradshaw Farms/Fields:

4 Meadow Pipit. c50 Jackdaw.

4 Stock Dove. Blue Tit,

3 Linnet, Long Tailed Tit. Dunnock.

2 Curlew. Goldfinch, Greenfinch,

Little Owl.