Hot Pants! & The Day of the Green Peckers

12:15 - 16:30

A walk from Foreside Lane to Ogden Water, Ogden Golf Course and home to Bradshaw today.
The temperature steadily increased during the outing leading to some Hot Pants (of the breathing variety) as I slogged up out of Lane Head on the way home.

Some decent sightings today, not bad anyway for July,resulted in a very pleasing afternoon.

Foreside Lane area:

A single Curlew was calling constantly and also calling here was a Kestrel.
I spotted the Curlew but after a long look-see didn't eyeball the Kestrel.
I did, however, see the Kestrel later as I looked back to this area from nearer Ogden.
The bird, was high on a pole , and appeared to be being fed by an adult bird.

3 (possible) Stock Dove flew quickly past.

Sheep were being sheared by a hot and bothered shearer.
The sheep however looked rather pleased to get shut of their woolly jumpers.
The stream here had dried up.

Crossing the fields to Ogden, Back Lane I was amazed to see that the boggy, reedy field still had a boot sinking swamp area!

A Snipe was flushed here by a solitary lamb, that I disturbed in the Reeds.
The bird called, zigzagged up and vamoosed.
I manged to catch it on the camera which was pleasing!

A few Meadow Pipit were knocking about and 2 further Kestrel with 3 Red Legged Partridge were seen before I crossed the border into Calderdale air space at 13:20.

The rough fields around Back Lane were quiet until I flushed 2 Green Woodpecker as I approached Ogden car park from the north end bridleway.

One bird looked like a Juv. which is always good to note.

Ogden Water / Golf Course:

The water held c200 Gulls (I counted 201).
Mostly Black Headed Gulls with a good few Lesser Black Backed Gulls and a few Common Gulls as far as I could make out.

I did not recognise any Herring Gulls.

A Cormorant was here with 9 Canada Geese and 10 Greylag Geese 'types'.
Greylags aren't that common here.

A few large  Mallard chicks looked big enough to fend for themselves now.

A Chiffchaff was singing as I headed across the prom towards the Golf Course area.

The golf course was boiling HOT with a good few Golfers enjoying the good weather (except one perhaps when I heard a well know golfing term 'What a plonker').
There were very few 'Birdies' here.

One bird did appear, difficult to see, in a far off tree.

I guess It's a Pipit but I need to study the pictures after tea.

A Kestrel flew overhead with and a couple of Linnet left a nearby tree.
Also here a Stock Dove.

A tough slog home was pleasantly interrupted at the garden of Lane Head House where 3 Green Woodpeckers were flitting about.
There were 2 Juv and an adult bird by the looks of it.
The birds were very difficult to see under the dark foilage with bright sunshine elsewhere.

Not much else seen on the way home.

(The heat's got to me - I've gone a bit bonkers with the numbers of photographs).

Spot the Snipe - I Can't !

Spotted it in this one though

Bit warm for the Woollies

Carrion Crow or Raven?

Carrion Crow is my guess.

Plenty of shoreline just waiting for Waders to arrive.

Difficult to get a decent picture with the bright sunlight.

Probably a Meadow Pipit?

Juv Green Woopecker

Piece of cake this flying about and landing … oooops

 Female Adult Green Woodpecker.

A short song....