The Dawn Chorus meet was put back a day as there was a bicycle race in the area on the Sunday so it was somewhat depleted bunch of birders who turned up at Barden Bridge at 0630. The weather was great, nice warm sun and no wind but only 3 of us to enjoy it. Ken and I had made our way from Leeds, bagging a short-eared owl on Blubberhouses Moor, whilst Richard was from Burley in Wharfedale, we hung around for a short while just in case any stragglers turned up scoring with green woodpecker, song thrush, common sandpiper and lesser black-backed gull even before we’d cleared the car park.
Once on the riverbank heading South we picked up a kingfisher heading North, the sand martins were back nesting in the river bank and a willow warbler was singing across the water. Close by the viaduct we came upon the first of our target birds, redstart – a pair of males having a real tussle over a female. The action was much to fast for either myself or Richard to get a photo. Ascending the slope to enter the woodland we got a chance with a male who did hang about long enough for photos, sadly into the light so not the best unfortunately. Pressing on we swiftly ticked off chiffchaff and nuthatch before hearing the second of our target birds, pied flycatcher, a male singing in the canopy above us. We eventually managed to pinpoint him and I took my normal belly shot of them, one day I’ll find one at eyelevel.
Birds on the river included dipper, mallard and Mandarin and a solitary male goosander, whilst in the scrubbier areas of the woodland we caught up with blackcap but no garden warblers. A brief stop at the stone hut gave us coal and blue tit, chaffinches and nuthatch coming to seed, along with Mandarin ducks in the trees. Not far from here we had been told of a tawny owl roosting in the wood, after a fair bit of searching we did locate the bird but it was definitely not photographable due to the intervening branches and boughs.
On reaching the Cavendish Pavilion bridge we crossed the river and made our way back upstream hoping for the final target bird, wood warbler, but sadly we were to be disappointed. However, we were perked up when I located a tawny owl in flight and managed to pinpoint where it came to rest, this time a distant bird but a much better place to get a photo. Also around here we had a zoom by sparrowhawk, the bird was so fast that by the time you registered it – it was gone. Further along the path we found a pair of grey wagtails, great tit and treecreeper as well as watching a parent dipper feeding one of the first brood whilst the other bird was checking on the second brood in the nest. Once back at the cars we decided to have a drive up to Barden Moor and see what we could find there, good call as we had prolonged views of a cuckoo sitting on the telegraph wires, sadly by now the heat haze was too great to allow distant photos to be anything other than smears. The red grouse kept us amused for a short while but the lack of anything in the air other than black-headed gulls soon caused us to call it a day and head home. With the final photo the tawny owl is the grey blob in the centre of the picture.
Final tally for the day was 50+ species with just the 1 target not achieved. Here’s to the next one.
Once on the riverbank heading South we picked up a kingfisher heading North, the sand martins were back nesting in the river bank and a willow warbler was singing across the water. Close by the viaduct we came upon the first of our target birds, redstart – a pair of males having a real tussle over a female. The action was much to fast for either myself or Richard to get a photo. Ascending the slope to enter the woodland we got a chance with a male who did hang about long enough for photos, sadly into the light so not the best unfortunately. Pressing on we swiftly ticked off chiffchaff and nuthatch before hearing the second of our target birds, pied flycatcher, a male singing in the canopy above us. We eventually managed to pinpoint him and I took my normal belly shot of them, one day I’ll find one at eyelevel.
Birds on the river included dipper, mallard and Mandarin and a solitary male goosander, whilst in the scrubbier areas of the woodland we caught up with blackcap but no garden warblers. A brief stop at the stone hut gave us coal and blue tit, chaffinches and nuthatch coming to seed, along with Mandarin ducks in the trees. Not far from here we had been told of a tawny owl roosting in the wood, after a fair bit of searching we did locate the bird but it was definitely not photographable due to the intervening branches and boughs.
On reaching the Cavendish Pavilion bridge we crossed the river and made our way back upstream hoping for the final target bird, wood warbler, but sadly we were to be disappointed. However, we were perked up when I located a tawny owl in flight and managed to pinpoint where it came to rest, this time a distant bird but a much better place to get a photo. Also around here we had a zoom by sparrowhawk, the bird was so fast that by the time you registered it – it was gone. Further along the path we found a pair of grey wagtails, great tit and treecreeper as well as watching a parent dipper feeding one of the first brood whilst the other bird was checking on the second brood in the nest. Once back at the cars we decided to have a drive up to Barden Moor and see what we could find there, good call as we had prolonged views of a cuckoo sitting on the telegraph wires, sadly by now the heat haze was too great to allow distant photos to be anything other than smears. The red grouse kept us amused for a short while but the lack of anything in the air other than black-headed gulls soon caused us to call it a day and head home. With the final photo the tawny owl is the grey blob in the centre of the picture.
Final tally for the day was 50+ species with just the 1 target not achieved. Here’s to the next one.
