Scarlet Tanager !!!

This morning my Twitch apprenticeship ended as I turned into a Twitcher Extraordinaire!

A rare sighting of a bird yesterday, in a garden in Shelf was reported via Facebook.

This morning after a leisurely breakfast I waited for the school run traffic to disappear before driving down to park on the road opposite Shelf Hall Park.

I donned me wellies, camera and bins and headed off .

When I got to the area at 9:15 about 25 birders were here - some had been here since 7:30 a.m. and had not seen the bird.

So, I casually walk up to DJB and Voila the bird flies up into a tree - Result - no "beating around the bush" for me today!

Now this is how to twitch.

Decent photos were difficult get , with the distance and the bird hidden by foliage mostly - but I did get a few half decent ones.

The bird moved to different trees a couple of times but soon flew out of sight behind houses.

It did not reappear in the 30 minutes or so I stayed after that.

This is the 8th record of Scarlet Tanager in Britain and a 1st for Yorkshire and, obviously, a Lifer for me.

It was good to be with a few Calderdale birders and a bonus to actually see the bird!

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After I left , I enjoyed a walk in the lovely sunshine through Shelf Park Woods for an hour or so.

After lunch I had a walk up to and over Soil Hill.

DJB was down in the 'swamp' and although he offered to shown me a 'special' bird down there, I was too fatigued to face the north slope today - soft sod what I am!

I continued over the hill along Ned Hill Track and home via the farm track etc.

Quiz:

Rodion Raskoinikov is the main character in which novel?

Birds:

Shelf Area:

Scarlet Tanager.

Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blackbird, Coal Tit.

Shelf Woods:

Long Tailed Tit. 2 Jay, 2 Nuthatch, Buzzard, Treecreeper.

Bullfinch, A Tawny Owl called (Once).

Bradshaw - Soil Hill etc:

2 Little Owl (1 Taylor Lane,1 Bradshaw Fields).

14 Red Legged Partridge. (6 Taylor Lane, 8 Bradshaw Fields).

c60 Lapwing (soon out of sight - 60 is a bit of a guess).

Teal on NK pond.

Moorhen.

Pheasant.

2 Pied Wagtail.

2 Bullfinch.

An Owl species left a ramshackled building along the farm track.

It looked darker than a Barn Owl with a 'stronger' wingbeat but it was gone in a jiffy.

I did not get owt on it,so who knows?

A Mistle Thrush was persistently plagued by a Jackdaw.

Green Woodpecker.

Pheasant.

Kestrel.

A day to remember!!!! 

Quiz Answer:

Crime and Punishment.

Shelf Area:

Shelf Woods:-

Bradshaw - Soil Hill etc: