A Real Wet Do ... Soil Hill to Ogden Circular

14:20 - 17:15

I decided on a circular walk to Ogden via Soil Hill and back this aft.

Half way up the 'Koi Carp' bridleway the drizzle arrived turning very heavy at times and plaguing the specs, bins and camera operations for a good hour.

On the bridleway the usual birds, Blue, Great Tit, Dunnock and Robins.

Soil Hill.

Soil Hill mast top was wreathed in mist on my arrival but it did clear up a bit later.
4 Mallard were on a small "pond" on the top.
There were 8 or so Meadow Pipit, 1 Skylark, and a distant bird on the lower (NK) pond.

A wader, "Redshank sized" , flushed, without any alarm call, early on from the main track. It rose high quickly with a zig-zag flight, probably a Common Snipe.

Coal Lane.

A Thrush, flying SSE far off, looked like a Fieldfare to me.
As I tried to focus the camera on it. a very kind lady passed in a BMW and emptied a nearby large brown puddle all over 'me pants - T.Y.V.Much I mouthed (not).
(The photo is pants as well).

Ogden 15:40

The usual birds on the water, 2 Cormorant, c30 Canada Geese, c100 Small Gulls and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

The west side was very busy with small birds flitting about.
2 Bullfinch took me an age to locate.
Also here was a Coal Tit.
Further along c30 Goldfinch and c4 Goldcrest were feeding in the trees.
I spent a long, long time trying to eek-out a Siskin or something more exciting but each bird was either finch or crest!
Also here was a Nuthatch.

Further along another 4 Goldcrest were seen and a Jay squawked nearby.
The wet stuff packed up and went home for a while.

A Treecreeper made a very fleeting visit to a nearby tree trunk before zipping off.

A look at my watch gave me a shock.
We have Abigail to sleep each Friday and it's my job to play Ludo etc. 
Having promised to be home at 5pm and it was now 4:30 oops!! I had to legit smartish - along Syke Lane - up Ned Hill Road and along Perseverance to Taylor Lane and home.

Looking at B.S.' amazing Ogden blog, tonight, I may have missed a bonanza!!

Leaving Ogden c20 Redwing flew over toward Back Lane area and 5 Pied Wagtail were in the fields along Ned Hill Road.

Arrived home at 17:15 in time for some serious colourin - no 'g'.

I didn't have a lot of luck with the photos today either.

A murky soil hill

The world's worst 'Snipe' photo (bird is top left)

Cropped - even worse

2 Mallard on the small Soil Hill pond and 2 other birds in the air also Mallard I believe.

The bird on the lower (NK) pond - no idea what this is.

Cropped not much good at the long distance

Another 'cormorant sized' duck leaving Ogden Water -  Mallard In think

This duck was miles away on the far side of Ogden Water - another Mallard?

Spot the Treecreeper