Just looked on the recent sightings page for Fairburn Ings and it says they had eagle and osprey there yesterday. Anyone know the facts? Or maybe someone had captive birds, perhaps a wrong ID from some over enthusiastic birder?

Chris.

Anyone been to Cowlam to see the SEO roost recently? I went before Christmas and never saw any although a couple of chaps there said they had seen one or two in the general area but not the numbers in the favoured valley yet. I gather the LEO's have long abandoned the nearby hawthorn scrub due to past disturbance?

Can't see captive birds being at Fairburn Ings. RSPB are very strict on the use of captive birds .... their policy is not on our turf! When I was leading Wildlife Explorer group, we were told not to bring in captive birds to the group, so no way can I see anyone being invited onto the reserve with captive birds.
I would imagine that any self-respecting osprey would be in Africa by now, enjoying the sun. Eagles..... not beyond the pale but again something that mega would be on Birdguides.
I reckon it's some non-birding volunteer making mistakes inputting gen to the website.
Or could well be that some newbie birder has seen a pale morph buzzard and a normal morph buzzard..... and the report wasn't checked before sticking it on the website.

Great views of the LEOs at Fairburn Ings this morning, exactly where everyone here said. Cheers guys!

Most of the reserve was frozen solid, and not that much about elsewhere - best was singles of kingfisher at both ends of the reserve, a snipe near Cut Hide, a flock of redpolls in the woods, and loads of goldeneye about (I never get bored of them). Still managed 17 year ticks though - gotta love January!

No ospreys or eagles ;)

No turkey in the oven! They've moved on due to overgrazing apparently. There's loads of those valleys up there though, Millington for example. Just need to find where they've gone!

Someone seeing a buzzard sounds about right and maybe a juvenile black backed gull may account for the osprey, strange that someone would actually put them on the website without any proof. Any osprey in the UK would have been very hungry and cold as well as hopelessly out of place.
Now I have some time off, I'll be looking for the LEOs.
Chris.

Went to Fairburn Ings this morning, the first time for a couple of years but there really was not much about. No sign of LEO, much to my disappointment.

Hey Jim,
Had the misfortune to be at Elland Rd on saturday watching Leeds take another hammering when my mate (who couldn't differentiate between a Kite and a canary) said ' theyv'e got the right bleeding idea buggering off somewhere warm' - he was referring of course to a massive 'V' wing of geese heading towards J27 at roughly 3.30pm. Are these the ones you saw; no chance of an ID from the South Stand!

Not unless they were circling for a bit, I saw them about 11:30.

Waxwing still at J27, far too windy today - could barely stand up near Pugneys, bugger all to see.

Went to Bempton today for a walk wih the wife. Nowt to see save a few Gannets and Fulmar.

Thanks for the Potteric info. Why as a YWT member do I still get charged £1.
Had a flock of Lesser Redpoll [note to other posters, Lesser and Common [Mealy] Redpoll are separate species so avoid the use of just Redpoll] which have been scarce this winter. Also a good flock of Siskin. Self found the Caspian Gull on Huxter Well Marsh which was a tick for the two Steves. Went to the turret hide where Steve M found a Iceland Gull [now consider a pale 1w due to all dark bill.] No reports of Bittern or Lesser Spots today.

Blog updated with some shots taken this year. I had an excellent garden tick today in the form of 11 waxwings. Technically they were a fly by presumably the same ones I saw at your school, 100 yards away, Jim.

There were a number of flocks of pink-feet moving yesterday. I saw around 50 heading north-west over Barden Bridge at 14:30.

Presumably they were heading away from the frozen east and south (it has been much colder down south strangely) - but how would they know the weather was milder north and west? Odd for birds to head back towards the breeding grounds rather than further away? Unless some commuters between the wintering grounds spread the news?

Graham

Went for a quick lap of East Park today, not much to see. Treecreeper was the best of it and the half a dozen redpolls are still about.

Went to Potteric today, report on the blog, nice views of the Caspo

Had the Fairburn LEOs today, two of them at around 1pm.

Your spot on Graham, they were heading WNW.

Some Pink feet move back to Lancs from Norfolk every year about this time it's not unusual to see them going wnw in Jan and Feb.

G

The £1 is for the permit to cross railway lines - presumably an agreement with the railway authorities. It's quite a reasonable price for such an excellent reserve, and compares well with other charging reserves.
Cheers

Just to update, I was lucky enough to see the beautiful Long Eared Owls at RSPB Fairburn Ings on Saturday afternoon.

While I was there I managed to see 4 different Owls, and at the same time was able to turn around and see a Peregrine perched on the tall chimneys behind us - a brilliant day ( despite the minus temperatures )

That's 6 different owls now ......... just got the Snowy to track down now, not holding my breath

Thanks for all the information that was posted last week on where to locate the LEOs

Mal Skelton

What's the sixth, Mal? Barn, tawny, little, LE, SE...?

Went over to Forest of Bowland to see the Eagle Owls .............. I know there is a lot of debate about the validity of the EO's, but since they had young that means they bred in the wild, that's how I justified it to myself.

I suppose I should have gone for the Scops Owl when it was in the UK, but I never expected to see more than Barn Owl and certainly never get this close to all of them

I did mention the Cornwall Snowy Owl to my wife at the weekend, she was less than enthusiastic - Castleford for the LEO was only just achievable.

Mal Skelton

Nice! They're the kind of bird that's worth seeing whether they're "legal" for a list or not.

Strangely, there was less excitement about the Eagle Owl on my behalf than some of the others - it did honestly feel like I was out at an owl sanctuary. It's not a case of going just to tick it, as I am a big fan of owls - it was beautiful and stunning ......... but did feel a bit plastic.

The Tawny was the greatest sense of achievement, even though I'd been given specific instructions to it's roosting tree - I still spent 45 mins looking at the tree until I saw the owl !!

The Little owl was lucky - saw it at Malham Cove with the Peregrines, just had to wait over an hour for it to re-emerge.

I see Barn Owls at least once a week on my way to work - and I still stop and watch them every time.

Owls are so beautiful and the way they fly looks so calm - that's why I want to see all of them in the wild

Mal Skelton

Barns are by far the hardest to see round me, I only ever see them when visiting places like Blacktoft Sands. Without wanting to make you jealous or anything, tawnies often perch outside my bedroom window, and littles can be found on my local patch... LEO and SEO took a bit more work!