A Bit of Local Stuff

With nothing planned for the afternoon I decided to head off for a few hours and visit a few differing habitats around the Huddersfield area. The first stop was Holmfirth, Last of the Summer Wine country. I had only been out of the car for a minute or so when the distinctive call alerted me to two Dippers powering down the river. Although they kept their distance they really were great birds to watch, flitting from stone to stone before submerging for a few seconds then flying off again. Very entertaining….if you’re into that sort of thing!

The other highlights were three Goosander and further up the river a pair of Mandarin's mingling with the Mallards.

Male and female Mandarin's





Stunning little ducks, which captivated the children who had stopped to throw bread? I’m always dubious though regarding these birds as although they are not ringed, they just seem too comfortable around people. Whether that’s the influence of the Mallards which have now become accustomed to the hand outs, I’m not sure? But they don’t seem ‘flighty’ in the slightest. I don’t have a vast experience of Mandarin’s but others I have seen seem to avoid humans very much in the same way as other species such as Smew and Goldeneye? That said, given the recent conditions I’m not surprised they are taking advantage of a free meal.

Mallard - Fair enough, the oriental Mandarin has the colour, but the Mallard can be equally as exquisite.



From Holmfirth I headed out towards the moors and was soon parked up at Harden Reservoir for a walk along the tops. Other than a few overhead gulls I think Red Grouse was the only other bird species I saw? This gave me time though to concentrate on my new interest in tracking! I did find a couple of interesting things along the way; I may need some expert advice though to nail identification?

This pellet was next to the remains of what appeared to be a pigeon. The breast areas had been eaten and given the feathered content of the pellet it may have come from a Peregrine?



I will take any offers on this one? Haven't a clue what it could have come from? It looks like mould but it was actually full of white hairs. I wondered if Mountain Hares produce hair balls in a similar way cats do from grooming? Or is that just nonsense!



Red Grouse droppings



Lichen on a memorial stone - not sure why I've put this photo on given it has no relevance to anything mentioned! Just quite liked it?



The final stop on my mini adventure was High Hoyland. A dogleg walk from the church down to Jebb Lane produced a nice little flock of Brambling’s, which were perched in a tree along with Chaffinch, Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting. A light shower though put an end to a nice afternoon of local birding and I retreated back to the car before it could get heavier. Wimp!

Lords of the Ring...Bill?

Its funny how the turn of the year reignites that little spark when it comes to getting back out there birding. Eagerly looking for birds you know you will see hundreds of throughout the year but getting that little buzz all the same, as another year tick gets added. Seen as its only Yorkshire’s second twitchable record, its no surprise that for many a local lister, Mirfield’s Ring Billed Gull was one of the better birds to bag early. A county crowd puller and easily the best bird on offer regionally at the dawn of 2011. I headed down this weekend like many others and after sifting through the comings and goings of small numbers of Black Headed and Common Gulls, I finally locked on the main event. My own error probably got me in the wrong place as the birds were front on, and with a number of them sleeping, I may have gone past the gull in question once or twice before getting on it for definite. A change of angle proved fruitful, offering much better views, as the now ‘awake’ Ring Billed Gull had un-tucked its head and become more active. A great bird.

Black Headed Gull



It was time though to move on. The Machete and Gonzales who I’d picked up en route were getting restless. As much as they like their birding, they also like a good walk, and as good as Sands Lane Gravel Pits has been for pulling in the rarity, it unfortunately lacks on the walking front. Going for a walk though with Gonzales is very much a blank canvas. Signs, walls and fences simply don’t faze him. His past adventures have seen him toe to toe with a farmer who claimed he’d looked into his bedroom with binoculars, going through a hole in a fence only pop out dodging machinery in a Biffa refuse site, and birding his way through danger signs into the middle of a paintballing game at the Bullcliffes outdoor adventure Delta Force camp.

Dunnock



Incidentally I once got taken out at a game of paintballing on my mates stag do, as I momentarily stopped because I thought I’d seen a Spotted Flycatcher! We were mixed up with other groups, put into teams, and packed off to storm our opponent’s base with a William Wallace style send off from the marshal, claiming that this would be the closest simulation available to modern day warfare. 20 minutes in to the game it got stopped, only to be then told that you couldn’t take hostages? Isn’t that modern warfare? And for the kids dad to then say we had ruined his sons birthday was a little over the top. Granted the swearing and pistol whipping was probably excessive, but he simply wouldn’t tell us where their base was? And who takes 12 year olds paintballing anyway?

Moorhen



Like Huddersfield’s answer to Ray Mears, Gonzales had us off along the river at Horbury. It was good too. The definite stand outs were a cracking male Red Breasted Merganser and a pair of Willow Tits in the Navigation Pub beer garden. I tried my best to get the drake Red Breasted Merganser, Goosander and Goldeneye all in one shot, but sadly that meant getting all the crap in view that’s stuck to all the riverside foliage.



Certainly not the best photo I’ve ever taken but the hope and vision was there. It’s just a shame that the tanks in the adjoining sewerage farm seem cleaner than the river? That said, there must be something in there? It attracts the sawbills every year.

I'm currently half way through a field guide to animals tracks and signs, so was hoping for some footprints to photograph so I could try and identify them later, sadly nothing. Not even an area of felled trees leading to a Beaver lodge! I seem to be swatting up on things I may not encounter in Huddersfield? The book features every little thing, but if anything sways more towards continental mammals. The following should be invaluable advice if venturing out in North America.

New Year

Well I can’t believe it has been a year since my first post! And judging by the hit counter, someone must be reading it? With just over 3000 hits to date, my Mum has admitted to 2995 of them, so I would like to personally thank the five or so other people who have taken time out to have a quick read. Hopefully I can count on your support in 2011! This year will hopefully see much of the same, birding both local and afar, tongue in cheek reports and a fresh year list.

A foggy start to the year



The only thing I will be changing for the coming year will be the actual bird’s names on the list i.e Gannet to Northern Gannet etc. I don’t know how, but my shit jokes and deranged imagination have attracted followers from abroad, hence the bird names going international!! Hopefully I can get one or two new names on it too. In 2008 I wiped the slate clean and started a Yorkshire and UK list from scratch, mainly due to taking a few years out to concentrate on women, drinking and sport, and losing all my previous records! I did find a scribbled year list from when I was about 10 years old but entries such as Bar Headed Goose at Newmiller Dam and Black Swan at Fairburn Ings may not have referred to genuine vagrants? So at least my current lists leave me plenty of room for improvement in 2011 and the forthcoming years.

Ruddy Turnstone



Sanderling



Juvenile Greater Black Backed Gull



After a great Christmas we spent the New Year in Filey, I got to go birding, Miss Piggy got a lie in and Junior had the run of the sea front on her new bike, so all in all everyone was a winner. I got one or two nice birds on the list too. It seems strange but due to returning home after dark on the Monday and two subsequent days at work, I haven’t actually seen a Great Tit! Yet I’ve managed to see Red Necked Grebe, Velvet Scoter and two diver species?

Black Headed Gull



Herring Gull



Those certainly were the highs from the last few days, but the lows were flushing a Woodcock on the 31st but failing miserably the next day and missing the Iceland Gull in Scarborough Harbour completely. Sanderling’s charging around the car park by the Lifeboat Station and Holbeck’s wintering Mediterranean Gulls were a little compensation though.

Mediterranean Gull



An afternoon in Scarborough was the only time we left Filey out of the four days, so other than that, all my birding so far this year has been in the Sea Watching Hide, on the Brigg and Country Park or at the Dams. It’s been great too. Overcast quite a lot of the time and at points very cold by the sea but all in all very pleasant.

Purple Sandpiper



Great Northern Diver



I had to feel sorry for one poor photographer whom along with his partner, slightly mistimed their return from the Brigg and unfortunately got cleaned up to the knees with an incoming wave. It’s a trudge back to the car park anyway, nevermind with wet shoes and jeans. They appeared to see the funny side though.

Mallards - Waiting for the thaw at Filey Dams

Fairburn Ings

Firstly Happy Christmas, I hope everyone got what they wanted! I feel like I’ve put on about three stone over the last week. It’s just been eating, drinking, Ashes Cricket and World Championship Darts, with a few nature documentaries thrown in, but isn’t that what Christmas is all about? A few long walks are going to be on the menu, to burn off the effects of the festivities. Unfortunately, due to a hectic lead up to Christmas, birding has taken a slight back seat but the fire was rekindled on Christmas morning when a few bird books got unwrapped! Come January 1st I should be fully recharged and firing on all cylinders with the list reset at zero.

Just quickly going back to the nature documentaries, this may come across as a bit of a rant but whilst watching a re-run of Life, the BBC’s flagship series of nature programmes, I was amazed to discover a creature called the Fried Egg Jellyfish. The resemblance was uncanny, but Fried Egg! Come on. Surely there’s something more respectful than that? I actually feel sorry for the Jellyfish! And there’s something I thought I would never actually say! How is thousands of years evolution rewarded by the name Fried Egg? I can only think that the pinnacle of any Naturalist’s career is to discover a new species. And let’s be fair, Marine Biologists have a very high chance of doing this with such vast areas of ocean still to be discovered and the ground breaking technology to assist them. But as pulses race at the possibility of unearthing a world first, who then decides to call it Fried Egg! It’s as though they’ve had a party at Scarborough Sea Life Centre and done a guess the name of the Jellyfish competition for the kids.

I just hope these jokers don’t find anything else! For the animals sake! It’s a good job the majestic Orangutan has already been discovered. If these clowns had have found it, it could have been the Baked Bean Monkey or something?

Rant over.

Robin



The only birding I’ve done recently was a run out to Fairburn Ings, which saw me doubling up with my equally bored Dad. He was suicidal after Towns home defeat to Hartlepool so needed to get out of the house, so asked if I fancied a run out to Fairburn. Anyone who is familiar with Fairburn Ings will know the Village Bay area, and that’s where we started, we knew it would be frozen but felt the river may be worth checking out. Upon parking up we were met by two fire engines and two police cars. Why? You may be thinking, and so were we? The answer left us both in sheer disbelief. A family had decided to go for a walk on the ice! This was seen and reported to the emergency services by one of the residents whose garden looks out over the bay. We were just shaking our heads? Its one thing to do something that stupid, yet take a child with you is utter madness! Fortunately they made it back un-harmed, yet when confronted by the Police and Fire Crew’s, they couldn’t understand the “fuss” that was being made!

Goldeneye



That aside, the birding remained to be as expected. Good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing were overhead, with Song Thrush and Blackbird feeding in the bushes. Sadly, one of the Mute Swan’s, which were now confined to a small area of ice-free water, along with various other species, had succumbed to the conditions, and perished. A sad sight. Yet a visible reminder of the elements taking its toll, with even the largest of British birds suffering. The river held Tufted Duck, Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe along with plenty of Cormorant and Gooseander which were all taking advantage of the ice free waters.

Coot



Shoveler



The feeders near the visitors centre were also busy, with Chaffinch and Goldfinch mingling with Great and Blue Tit. The pick of the birds had to be a brief visit from a Willow Tit and a flash of brilliant blue from a Kingfisher, stunning birds! Tree Sparrow’s were also plentiful with Dunnock and Pheasants doing the hoovering up on the floor.

Pheasant



I even made it into the shop and only purchased a drink, which for me is unbelievable! I can’t remember the last time I went to a reserve and didn’t come away with a magazine at least. Must be getting tight in my old age! That, or I’d got most of the books already?

Kingfisher

A Bit of Huddersfield Scenery

These are just a few locations around the Huddersfield area, taken over the last few days. I did a lap of Langsett Reservoir on Sunday in the hope of tracking down a Great Grey Shrike that had been reported, no luck on that front but to be fair it's one of my favourite places locally, so it was by no means a 'dip'. It was nice just to be out there in glorious sunshine, albeit with a very chilly breeze! There are a few felled areas now which look perfect for the shrike, the largest area though isn't viewable from the path so it could have been lurking anywhere, if it was even still present? These picture may be better clicked on to enlarge them slightly?

Langsett Reservoir











Red Grouse



Castle Hill with a distant Holme Moss





A view down to Bretton Lakes



The view from the garden - now you see it!





Now you don't!

Pied Bill to Parakeet's

The last few weekends have produced some nice birding but very limited opportunities to photograph anything, I'm a birder foremost, that said, it's always nice to show off some of the sightings. Last Saturday morning I made the trip over the border to Hollingworth Country Park to see the Pied Billed Grebe. Over 100 people were present but the bird wasn’t half as obliging as it had been reported and photographed the previous days. It kept its distance, favouring the far side of the sheltered bay in which it had taken up residence, maybe due to the swelling numbers of visitors? I stayed for around an hour and a half but it never came anywhere near as close as some of the locals were saying it had done previously. Having seen some of the photos taken on other days, I would be embarrassed to post the record shots I took, which merely show it as a speck! They are up there with my King Eider photo!!!

I am normally chained to my desk at work, very rarely getting the chance to get out. This week was different though, I had to meet someone in London. To save the hassle of the Monday morning rat race I made the trip down on the Sunday night and stayed at my sisters. To cut a long story short, I had a meeting in the centre but then had to head out to Kingston Upon Thames. It was this drive that got me another sighting for the year, Ring Necked Parakeet. A few small flocks flew over parklands as I made my way out and I also saw a few perched in a dead tree quite close to the M25. It was a bonus year tick really.

Castle Hill



When two tectonic plates collide big things happen, so when I got invited out with two stalwarts of the local birding scene I was expecting a feast. With combined experience of 130 years, I am merely Daniel to their Mr Miyagi. They mentored me and chauffeured me as boy, passing on identification tips and local knowledge. They still do to this day. There isn’t a stone unturned by these two in Clayton West, Emley and Bretton. Both ex gang leaders, their paths met whilst sharing a cell in the big house, it was this chance meeting that would later fuse the foundations for a local birding super power. Whilst inside, the pair found the Christian faith, which would in time, carve the way for a premature release. Years on and they are still known in some circles by their gang names and bare visual reminders in the form of tattoos of the underworld life they have since left. Mick ‘the machete’ Sellars was arrested in the late eighties when his human trafficking ring was infiltrated by undercover agents and brought to the fore. For years he had made a tidy sum smuggling people from Flockton into Emley and was seen by some as a martyr, a modern day Robin Hood who risked it all to try and give these people from Flockton a better life.

Ian ‘Gonzales’ Rank, a Gambian bird expert, fell foul of his own fear as minutes before boarding a plane to Banjul, ‘Gonzales’ reacted badly to a patrolling sniffer dog in his close proximity. His phobia of dogs caused unease and his fidgeting behaviour was picked up by airport security. He was later found with three tins of snuff taped to the inside of his leg.

My mentors



The Machete and Gonzales are old school and that’s what I like about them, they are still phoning Birdline North East, I’ve tried my best to get them into the internet side of birding but to no avail. To be fair though, it was only a year ago that I thought a blog was an online diary for an American family to chronicle the trials and tribulations of their three sons Chad, Buck and Randy. I actually saw pro bull riding recently on ESPN and one guy was called Pistol! How tough is that! I best not upset anyone over the pond though as my brother in law is American. Luckily he’s one of the cool ones. He doesn’t clap and cheer when a plane touches down.

Great Tit trying to dislodge a nut



I tagged along with Mick and Ian to Bretton Lakes, taking in the High Hoyland church area, where finch numbers appear to be building again. Bramblings were amongst Chaffinch and Greenfinch, and small numbers of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer were also present.

It was all the ‘usuals’ on the lakes, however three Gadwalls were present, not a species I have come across at all regularly in this area.

The aptly named Turkey Tail fungus

Back to the Patch

With a recent report of a Yellow Browed Warbler on my very road! It was clear I probably wasn't giving the surrounding area my closest attention. That said, a 9 to 5 job makes sure that many slip the net! So a few walks locally have been the weekend's agenda, mainly for Junior, who's autumnal school topic has fortunately prized her away from Tom and Jerry and got her out there, looking, listening and collecting.



The mist was thick but the leaves broke through, with the only noise other than bird song being the miniature steam train, as it passed below a few times. We didn't hit on anything rare, but the resident Little Owl certainly livened things up for Junior! With her response being "it can't be an owl, it's too little"? Too much Harry Potter I think?

King of all he surveys!