BTO Atlas

The BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) are running a 5 year project to map all Britain's birds. The project started in 2007 and finishes next year. Volunteers have been carrying out field work in summer and winter in 2 Km squares (tetrads) all over the country, counting and recording all the birds. I have a final 3 squares which have been allocated to me, 2 of which are in Elland and the other is in Warland. I completed the Elland ones earlier in the week and I visited the Warland site this morning for 2 hours. Visibility varied from about 50 yards to over a mile.

Once I got out of the valley and looked back down, the clouds had settled into the valley floor, but this didn't last long as they soon came back over the hills and closed down visibilty again.

Warland reservoir was still frozen -

The clouds came rolling in and seemed to be tumbling onto the frozen water

Nothing special from a birding perspective, but a couple of Red Grouse were a nice sound to hear in the peace and quiet of the chilly and misty moors.

Shaw Wood

Walked past Lee Dam, down to the canal tow path and up through Shaw Wood this afternoon. Nothing at Lee Dam as the water is still frozen, and not much in the valley either apart form a Grey Heron over the river, but when I got to Shaw Wood the place seemed to be alive with birds all over the place. They were obviously enjoying the relative warmth of 0 to 1 degree temperatures!

A Treecreeper was flitting about in Shaw Wood and towards the top of the wood there were 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and about 20 Long Tailed Tits together with Blue, Great and Coal so I checked for Nuthatch as they usually accompany flocks of Tits, and sure enough there was one as I hoped. A Little Owl flew up from the ground and landed on a low branch at the edge of the wood and perched there for a few minutes so I had good a good view until it flew off over the fields.

Fieldfare and Rook

The Fieldfare was back in the garden eating apples this morning.

For the first time in years we had a Rook in the back field.

River Calder and Eastwood WTW

Had a walk into Hebden Bridge this morning and the River Calder was frozen over in places. Where the river was still open and running OK there was a flock of about 16 Redwing on the bank of the river looking for food and bathing.

A Grey Heron was in the river, also looking for a meal.

At Eastwood Water Teatment Works there were about 12 Meadow Pipits on the iced up settling beds

A Grey Wagtail and 2 PiedWagtails were with them.

Lumbutts

Very cold again, -12 overnight, but a lovely day for a walk. Here's a view over Lumbutts showing our 3 local major landmarks - from the right we have Lumbutts Water Tower, Stoodley Pike and The Top Brink Inn.

River Calder

Walked down to the River Calder this morning and found that it was freezing over in some places...

A female Goosander was swimming up river where the ice hadn't formed.

Also on the river were 26 Mallards, a Grey Heron and a Moorhen. Up in Stoodley Clough: 2 Jays, 7 Long Tailed Tits and a Treecreeper.

Although the snow and ice enables everyone to take lots of nice photos, and if it persists through Christmas it will look very festive, it isn't helping the wildlife at all. Birds and animals will be struggling to find food so we should all help as much as we can - but also keep a look out for species you wouldn't normally expect to see. Woodcock for example were seen regularly in daytime through the last cold spell we had.

Lee Dam and Rochdale Canal

Lee Dam was still 60% frozen over this morning but there were 3 pairs of Goosander there. The freezing temperatures we're due to have over the next week won't help either. Not much other bird life to be seen until the Rochdale Canal and River Calder, where a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail were seen.

The snow arrived later in the morning as promised and the temperature dropped from 6 degrees to -1 in about 2 hours. By the time the sun was setting the snow had stopped and made the hills and Stoodley Pike very picturesque.

Hardcastle Crags and Crimsworth Dean

We took a walk up through Hardcastle Cargs and over to Crimsworth Dean then back into Midgehole this morning. It was perfect walking weather and apart from a very slight shower it stayed dry throughout. Allan and Chris were on fine form.

There was still a bit of snow in sheltered places where the sun hadn't penetrated...

Coming down Crimsworth the sunlight was just breaking through the clouds, giving a fine view to Hebden and Heptonstall:

In the Crags we saw 2 Treecreepers, 2 Dippers and a Grey Heron but little else of note. Gibson Mill pond was still frozen.

Brambling and Fieldfare

We had a Brambling and a Fieldfare in the apple tree this morning. The Fieldfare was feeding on the apples still on the tree:

 
9 Blackbirds were also trying to eat the apples but the Fieldfare apparently didn't want to share and kept trying to chase them away. A Mistle Thrush was eating apples from the lawn and also flew into the apple tree later:

On the feeders were 4 Lesser Redpoll; maximum 17 Goldfinch; 4 Greenfinch; 5 Chaffinch under the feeders; a Coal Tit; 2 Great Tit and a Blue Tit.

Little Owl

A friend of mine, Janet, rang to say she'd heard scratching from the roof space above her daughter's bedroom a couple of days ago and they investigated further today as the noise persisted. Thinking they would find a mouse or squirrel, imagine their surprise when they found a Little Owl instead!

It had probably crawled into the roof space and then had been unable to find a way out.  She asked what was the best thing to do with it. We talked it over and having decided the bird was unhurt, she put the bird outside on a fence post and it flew off, apparently none the worse for its self-inflicted imprisonment. It's nice to have a happy ending every now and then.

Thursday thaw

Yipee, we managed to get up to 3 degrees today so at last we've had a bit of a thaw. If this keeps up for a few days we may get rid of some of the snow and life can get back to some normallity.

The snow and ice has been hard on some birds, so it is important for us to feed them in our gardens as much as we can. We'll be rewarded with the sight of common, and some uncommon, birds visiting to feed.

The Garden today

The feeders were very busy today with 3 Lesser Redpoll, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Bullfinch (male and female), a Reed Bunting and the usual Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and assorted tits.

Lesser Redpoll

Reed Bunting (male)

Bullfinch (male)

A Morning Walk

A bright day dawned last Friday so I set off up to Stoodley Pike, down the Pennine Way to the Rochdale Canal and the River Calder then back up the hill and home. It was bright and sunny but cold (-12 overnight). As I started up the hill I could see clouds gathering to the NW and they were heading my way.

I reckoned I had about 15 minutes before they reached me so I carried on. As I got about 2/3 of the way up I noticed that clouds were rolling down from the top as well. The snow was quite deep in places where it had drifted and the path was obscurred so I went off-road a couple of times and got a boot full of snow for my trouble. I decided that it was easier and safer to carry on and come down the Pennine Way than to turn back and go back down the hill. Unsurprisingly there were no birds about.

It wasn't until I got to Callis Wood that there were signs of life with a flock of 17 Redwing, about 12 Long Tailed Tits and a Nuthatch. Along the canal you can always count on there being a good number of birds at the Eastwood Water Treatment Works and sure enoughthere were 14 Meadow Pipit;15 Pied Wagtail (there may have been more Mipits and Pieds but I couldn't see the whole of the settling beds); a Grey Wagtail and 31 BH Gull.

Up through Shaw Wood I heard a Nuthatch calling then saw 2 of them, along with a Treecreeper and about 6 Long Tailed Tits. Just as I was emerging from the wood the sun was shining on the frosty grass -

Lin's Pic

Lin had a go at taking photos of the Great Spotted Woodpecker this morning and she did a fine job too - probably better than mine!

2 Bullfinch (male and female) along with the other usual finches but no Redpolls today. This female Bullfinch had snow around her bill after digging in the snow for seeds under the feeders.

No walk today as I spent it digging ice out of the troughing. SNow melts on the roof, runs into the troughing where it freezes and builds up until it overflows.

More snow

A few more inches of snow today with schools and businesses sending people home early to avoid getting stranded. We went to collect our daughter from work a little earlier than usual and the stream of traffic coming out of Halifax was never-ending. The roads have been ploughed and gritted regularly but even so they were being covered with snow as we drove this afternoon.

Lee Dam was frozen over and apart from a few Mallards nothing was stirring on the water/ice.

It was a different matter in the surrounding trees though with 2 Goldcrest, at least 7 Long Tailed Tit and many Blue and Great Tit moving through.

The sun broke through for about 5 mins later in the day but for the most part Stoodley Pike was shrouded in cloud:

In the garden we had a Bullfinch (male), 11 Chaffinch, 5 Greenfinch, 10 Goldfinch, a Lesser Redpoll, 3 Blue Tit and a Great Tit.

Snow today

The snow that has been affecting most of the UK reached us today with about 5" on the ground when we got up. I guess we got away pretty lightly given the volumes of snow that some areas have been getting.
The birds were already on the feeders just before daylight and when I cleared some snow and threw out a few fresh apples, a Mistle Thrush came in to feed.

Also in the garden today were 12 Goldfinch, 9 Chaffinch, 2 Lesser Redpoll, a Dunnock and the GSW, plus 3 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit and 2 Coal Tit. 

More snow is forecast overnight so it sounds like I'll be out with the shovel again tomorrow.

Withens Clough

Walked over to Withens Clough this morning in the sun. It was cold (-2C) but good weather for walking. Lee Dam was almost totally frozen over so no ducks on there.

Stoodley Pike was looking good in the morning sun with a vivid blue sky behind

Got to the Long Stoop and couldn't resist a self potrait

Withens Clough had 3 Goldeneye (1 drake and 2 ducks) on the water but nothing else. It was about 50% frozen over with a thin film of ice.

Woodpecker

Snow on the ground today but not much, just a dusting really. It brought the birds into the garden though with 2 Bullfinches, 2 Lesser Redpolls and a Great Spotted Woodpecker heading the list.

Our second appearance on Mastermind went out on BBC last night, not as contestants though! We were in the audience when the show was recorded and 3 rounds were done at the same time so there is still another appearance to come. Wonder if we'll get appearance money from The Beeb?

Norfolk

Had a few days in north Norfolk with Robert, a good friend of mine. The weather was kind - cold but no rain, with plenty of sunshine.

We stopped off at Frampton Marshes on the way down and spent a great afternoon in the sun. We didn't see anything particularly special but the reserve is very well laid out and it was very pleasant to walk round it. A few Little Egrets and a probable Merlin were the highlights. Several Tree Sparrows were on the feeders by the visitor centre:

Tuesday we walked around the NWT reserve at Cley and were told that 2 Shore Larks were on the East Bank somewhere. After an hours search we eventually spotted them high on the bank giving good views - our first Shore Larks so well worth the time:

There were more Little Egrets at Cley too:

A wander to Wells Wood in the afternoon gave up Goldcrest, GSW and a Muntjac deer:

The following day dawned clear and bright and the Brent Geese were leaving for their feeding grounds. The sky was just full of geese.

Titchwell RSPB reserve next and the highlights were a Black Headed Gull that came really close...

Black Tailed Godwit feeding in a shallow pool...

plus great views of Redshanks...

A trip to Burnham Overy and Grey Plover was next on the agenda -

The following day was Holme-Next-The-Sea and a flock of about 40 Snow Buntings on the beach -

A most enjoyable few days and 64 different species - not bad for us in November. We found most people to be friendly and pleasant, apart from one ignorant sod of a birder who refused to reply after I asked him if he had a bird that we had been watching through our bins in his scope. He probably did as he'd set up just as I asked him, but by the time I got my scope on the bird it had just flown. People eh?!? Could have been a LEO but couldn't confirm id.