Bradshaw, Holdsworth & Oats Royd.

10:30

Another beautiful sunny morning with a cool refreshing breeze saw me don the walking boots and head off down Bradshaw Lane. Bradshaw Park held all the regulars, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Blackbird and Greenfinch.

A Heron was circling and gliding high over Oats Royd and with it being so high up I thought Osprey but the bins revealed the legs sticking out behind it.

The pond by the park held a Pr. of Canada Goose, one on a nest and a Moorhen.

I followed the diagonal path through the fields towards Holdsworth. A few Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and a Pr. of Mistle Thrush for company here.

There is a small strip planted with trees and bushes here and the Mistle Thrush seen earlier kept me company calling and staying a few trees in front as I walked through the wood. Also about in the wood Robin, Willow Warbler, Jay, Great Tit and Mallard.

Oats Royd 11:30

There was a lot of birdsong down here this morning but I was struggling to see what was making it! A Song Thrush was singing loudly from within the trees and Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler , Wren and Robin were all competing for air time.

A Swallow flew low across the bottom pond and there were 3 Canada Goose and the usual 3 Domesticated Geese here. 2 Moorhen left the scene in a hurry. One flying off the other diving into the undergrowth.

A Mistle Thrush was singing high in a large tree as I turned round to go back upstream.

Just beyond the path back to Bradshaw, there is a pond on the right. 

As I approached this a duck left the scene in a hurry – M. Mandarin duck. It left in such a hurry that, disappointingly, I could not get a picture. I was down here for another 30 mins or so, but did not see the Mandarin again.

The pond higher up on the left had no sign of the 4 Moorhen chicks I’d seen on my earlier visit, hopefully mum will have moved them off to safety.

I plonked down on a large stone here, for a breather and a biscuit. A Willow Warbler kindly serenaded me as a Sparrowhawk passed by high overhead.

On the return journey to Bradshaw a couple of Meadow Pipits were on the path walls and another Swallow passed by.

It’s Friday, so what the heck - A Joke (just):

3 elderly men Bill, Jack & Fred were living together and trying hard to deal the problems old age brings.

Jack was in the bathroom with one foot in the bath and the other out of the bath .. He shouts downstairs “Fred, was I getting into the bath or getting out of it?”

Fred shouts back “Hang on Jack I’ll come up and have a look”

Fred goes upstairs, stops on the landing for a minute or two, for a breather, and then shouts down to Bill. “Bill, was I going upstairs or coming downstairs?”

Bill shouts back angrily, while banging his fist on the kitchen table

“I’m sick (bang!), sick (bang!), sick (bang!) of this – you were going upstairs!”

………………  Time Passes…………….

Bill thinks “Was that the front door, or was it the back door”.

Have a good week-end.

Bradshaw Park Bowling Green

Todays Pies, steak & kidney