Yorkshire Birding (46 Viewers)

[Prestdj]

Not too sure on sites closer to Heckmondwike than Fairburn as I am in NE Leeds and so I tend to go out Eastwards rather than cross the city.
Pugney's Country Park and the Calder Wetlands across the road near to junction 39 of the M1 get good birds but parking at both isn't easy or free.
The flooding at St Aidan's was an incredible sight, a huge lake where there should have been a river. I would love to have been there when the river broke through, I only visited after it had reached its final level.

think st aidens is closer to heckmondwike (early morning it takes 30 minutes from halifax to st aidens and hecky is closer) i would even suggest blacktoft rspb which on a good run could be say 40-50 minutes away

 

[HydeParkDave]

I'm starting to prefer St Aidens to Fairburn, although theres only one hide overlooking St Aidens. RSPB Blacktofts, YWT North Cave, Alkborough Flats and LWT Far Ings are all worth a drive east, but RSPB Old Moor and YWT Potteric Carr are closer to Heckhuddersfax.

 

[delia todd]

Heckhuddersfax

😂

Love it!!!

 

[Keith Dickinson]

I'm starting to prefer St Aidens to Fairburn, although theres only one hide overlooking St Aidens. RSPB Blacktofts, YWT North Cave, Alkborough Flats and LWT Far Ings are all worth a drive east, but RSPB Old Moor and YWT Potteric Carr are closer to Heckhuddersfax.

The starling murmuration in 2020 was last time I was at Potteric and I can't actually remember when I last visited Old Moor. Are you still not able to cross the railway at Potteric? That ruling cut off some prime lesser pecker habitat.

 

[Sc0tty]

The starling murmuration in 2020 was last time I was at Potteric and I can't actually remember when I last visited Old Moor. Are you still not able to cross the railway at Potteric? That ruling cut off some prime lesser pecker habitat.

The railway crossing to Childers Wood/Low Ellers was closed by Network Rail for H&S and I can’t see them re-opening it in my lifetime. There’s still plenty of other areas to explore.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

The railway crossing to Childers Wood/Low Ellers was closed by Network Rail for H&S and I can’t see them re-opening it in my lifetime. There’s still plenty of other areas to explore.

Ah thanks for the update.

 

[tony.saw]

Ah thanks for the update.

They apparently want a bridge there rather than just a railway crossing. The bridge also has to have wheelchair access (quite rightly), but is prohibitively expensive.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

The reserve at Rodley near Leeds is once more accessible by car. The new bridge over the canal is open. If you have never visited it is a cracking little reserve, only open Saturday, Sunday and Wednesdays but worth it. They have great dragonfly ponds, a sacrifice meadow field and hides overlooking wet grassland and lagoons. Not bad for a former filter beds.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Today’s WEBs count results for Roundhay Park in Leeds
Mute swan – 51
Canada goose – 15
Greylag goose – 1
Mallard – 93
Gadwall – 49
Wigeon – 1
Tufted duck – 26
Goosander – 9
Little grebe – 1
Moorhen – 10
Coot – 28
Grey heron – 1
Black-headed gull – 42
Common gull – 1
Pied wagtail – 1
Common buzzard – 1
Present but not counted blue tit, great tit, mistle thrush, blackbird, robin, nuthatch, carrion crow, magpie, collared dove and woodpigeon.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Bittern booming nicely at St Aidan's yesterday, nice to eventually catch up with a pair of black-necked grebes on the reserve as well. Little owl showed well in its usual place below the dragline.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

10 whooper swans on Waterloo Lake at Roundhay Park in Leeds made for a very nice patch tick today.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

A very early morning trip up to Arkengarthdale and Tan Hill got us 7+ male black grouse and a single grey hen, a pair of grey partridge, numerous red grouse, 5 ravens and a couple buzzards. A rather large hop over to Redcar and the drake King Eider was a real treat to see with its blue head, also numerous common eider and common scoter, bonus birds were the purple sandpipers on the shore below the Esplanade. On the way home as we were passing it seemed a good idea to visit Nosterfield Nature Reserve and the Quarry. Not that much water at the quarry and what there was was very distant so it made the id task tricky but we picked up great crested grebe, mute swan as well as black swan, teal, tufted duck - the nature reserve had more water and more birds, black-tailed godwits, a singleton ruff, 4 ringed plovers a dunlin, numerous redshank, along with oystercatchers and lapwings. About half a dozen sand martins flew through heading North. A decent haul of ducks also, mallard, gadwall, teal, wigeon, goldeneye, tufted duck, shoveler, shelduck and a single little grebe. With the usual songbirds and a nuthatch sat on a telegraph wire we managed a total of 59 species for the day. Not bad given the weather, alternating sunny spells and rain with a biting wind.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Adel Dam Nature Reserve was the venue for today's solo outing. Had an enjoyable couple of hours split between the two hides there. Never ceases to amaze me how people can walk into a hide talking quite loudly, then start dissing the place because there's no wildlife around. The new Marsh hide is starting to bed in quite nicely, the hard landscaping is becoming covered up by vegetation. The pool is attracting more birds as well. Lake hide suffered because there was an awful lot of water moving through the reserve following the last few days rain. I managed almost 30 species of bird in only a couple of hours and if my hearing was up to scratch i could probably have added more.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Strid Woods at Bolton Abbey yesterday with Richard and Ken. The ritual early morning visit (0630 - 0930) to boost our year lists. The weather was kind to us, although the light was awful for most of the time. We parked at Barden Bridge and walked down the East bank to the Cavendish Bridge, crossed there and came back up the West bank. The first redstart was heard and then seen before we reached the viaduct, sadly it was across the river so impossible to get a photo of it. Another was calling as we entered the woods proper. Pied flycatchers were seen at several locations, all the birds we photographed were well away from nest boxes. We counted approx a dozen males either seen or heard for the whole walk. At the stone hut another redstart was heard but not seen, the usual tits and chaffinches were here. We put seed out for them so we could grab some photos before heading on down the path. Nuthatches were heard calling almost the whole time we were on the East bank. Common sandpipers and mandarin ducks were on the river. After crossing over and starting our walk back upstream we had song thrushes, chiffchaff and willow warbler singing but sadly no sign of wood warblers. Dippers were more evident from this side of the river and we saw at least three different birds, sand martins and swallows were hawking overhead as we approached the viaduct, where we had the first grey wagtail of the walk. After passing the viaduct we approached the area where we first picked up redstart and sure enough the bird was singing once more, so we scanned the treetops but failed to pick the bird out. I followed the flight of a blue tit hoping for a photo and there on a fence post below the trees was the male redstart, no wonder we hadn't found the bird in the treetops. We followed the bird for a few minutes trying to grab photos as it emerged from behind various branches until it eventually returned to the treetops and we lost it once more. After getting back to the cars, Ken and I left to get back to Leeds whilst Richard went up along the Storiths road to see if he could find a cuckoo, he didn't find one but did luck onto a garden warbler -jammy beggar. A good mornings walk and some very nice birds seen and photographed. The Barden Bridge roadside car park is free but gets very very busy, hence our early start. Parking on any of the Estate's car parks is extortionate.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Today was the first Leeds Bird Fair since prior to Covid and I had the privilege of being a 'guide in the hide' at the event. I was in the hide looking over the Main Lagoon for almost the whole morning, sadly the birds hadn't read the flyers and they didn't really put on a show for people. It was good to see the sand martin wall being used but I counted less than a dozen birds using it. One of the male swans on the lagoon must have been overdoing the steroids as it would not stop threatening the other two males on the lagoon. A roebuck having a breather just by the hide door was a completely unexpected surprise, it stayed there for around 2 hours and then left without a murmur. The event was well attended with stalls from the RSPB, YWT, Spurn Bird Observatory,Yorkshire Naturalist Union, British Dragonfly Society, Leeds Swifts among others. After my stint in the hide I had a wander by the dragonfly pools and managed to get decent photos of both chaser species and a common blue damselfly, the large red damselfly photo was ruined as the camera decided that a rock in the water was the point to focus on rather than the insect. Banded demoiselles were almost everywhere this morning. I would recommend watching out for the Fair next year, it's well worth a visit and helps the nature reserve which is a run by volunteers.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Visited Timble Ings on Monday night, had the pleasure of following a brown hare down the lane to the parking place. Loads of willw warblers and chaffinches as I walked up through the plantation to the moor edge. The ponds are now fenced as part of the water vole reintroduction scheme which is a shame as you can't really see enough of them to find any dragonflies. I thought there was a tawny owl calling until I saw the song thrush, it had got the owls call off to a tee. Spent a couple of hours watching the clear felled area and was rewarded with a nice barn owl flying across the clearing and then at around 22.00 we had a female nightjar circle us roughly head hieight and only 20 foot away... much my best view of a nightjar. The churring male was across the plantation and by that time was invisible to us. It was worth being covered in tiny flies for the view of the nightjar.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Really must get around to posting here a little more often. So far this year I have been out birding 3 out of the 6 days. Not bad but I don't think my wife will let me keep up that average. Jan 1st saw us having a quick trip across Leeds to see the waxwings that have been so plentiful at Crossgates, nice to get them so early in the year. Yesterday was Blacktoft Sands RSPB and North Cave YWT reserves. Couldn't find the hen harrier at Blacktoft but did manage at least 7 marsh harriers (1 male and the rest cream crowns) other than lapwing there were no waders on site, no swans either. North Cave had redshank and 3 mute swans, star bird there was the male brambling at the feeding station, another bird that was nice to get so soon. Today is was a mooch around Roundhay Park and surprisingly enough I added to the year list, jay and nuthatch along with ring-necked parakeet and mandarin duck. A paltry 61 species for the year so far

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Water pipit still present at Lemonroyd Sewage works, Fleet Lane Oulton. The bird seems to favour filter bed 7 but is difficult to see until it pops up onto the filtering arms. There are something in the order of two dozen pied wagtails there as well so it could take time sorting through them to nail the pipit. As the car park at St Aidan's was chocka block I gave up and came back to Roundhay Park and walked by the lakes there. Nice to find 11 little grebe at the northern end of Waterloo Lake along with 9 goosanders, Upper Lake had 3 wigeon and 9 gadwall along with the usual tufted duck and mallards. Still no great crested grebe on either lake yet.