Long walk in improving weather

As the weather was reasonable today (no snow for 3 days now so looking good) I decided to stretch my legs a little following a long lay off of about 5 weeks. Although there was still a lot of snow laying on the ground in drifts, all the roads and about 30% of the foot paths are passable without too much effort. However, me being me decided that a little off-piste would be interesting so I did get a bit of snow down the top of my boots, just to remind me that it isn't fully fledged Spring yet.

There were 3 Mistle Thrushes and just a single Little Owl at Mankinholes on my way through. I hope the other owl is OK as they are usually seen together.

A nice surprise was a Coot at Lee Dam, only my third record here at this site:

A few Long-tailed Tits were in the trees around the dam but nothing else was about, not even Mallards.

After a few miles of walking on the roads, off I went up onto the hills to see if anything had flown in over the past few weeks. The snow was deep in places but I wasn't the first to venture up here:

It will be good to see a little more green through the camera viewfinder and hopefully I will in the weeks to come.

These pools are usually full of frogs and frog spawn at this time of year, but not now:

A Raven was overhead, cronking away to make sure I was aware it was there, and I followed it through the bins over to some rocks where I got a better view of it:

An hour or so later and out of the deep snow I was lucky enough to see a Peregrine perched up:

Snow Day 4 - Walk to Mankinholes

It stopped snowing this morning after 2 and a half days of non-stop blizzard conditions. The wind is still blowing the snow off the fields and drifts though so it still feels like it's snowing even though it isn't!

The road through Mankinholes is closed due to a small amount of snow

 As I couldn't get through the village due to the digger clearing the road, I went down the Pennine Bridleway, which although it had drifts seemed passable

 until I got to the section just before the Top Brink when I was confronted by a wall of snow 3 feet above the level of the walls!

 I thought I'd have to go over the wall to the right, through the field and rejoin the bridleway past the drift, but then I thought why not just walk over the top of it, so I did - it's the first time I've been in snow up to my waist :)

 

Strange to say the Little Owls weren't to be seen, nor were any birds apart from corvids until I got down to a lower altitude and New Mill Dam held 3 Goosander and 2 Mallard. The Goosander were doing well feeding away despite the anti-fish-predator wires strung across the water.

None of the water bodies were frozen over at all even though temperatures have been at or below freezing over the last few days, so I'm guessing the wind blowing so hard has kept the water surface moving and has prevented it freezing over.

Still snowing on 23 March

Well the snow kept snowing and the wind kept blowing so the view from our back window now looks like this (compare with previous post and the wall is just about visible):

So no visit to the East coast for us this weekend I'm afraid :(

The snow is still coming down and the birds are finding it hard going. As soon as food is put out it gets covered by the snow being blown from one place to another. They are managing to get a little though before it disappears and the hanging feeders are faring OK. Max 14 Goldfinch, 7 Chaffinch, 3 Lesser Redpoll and just 2 Greenfinch.

Snow on 22 March

What the hell is going on here? It's the second day of Spring and temperatures haven't got above zero yet.

Snow + gale force winds = blizzard. Here's the view from our window this morning and we have snow drifts at our front and back doors -

Strait Hey and Mankinholes

It was a brilliant morning today, sunny but cool in the breeze so off over Strait Hey to look for the first Wheatear arrivals. Strait Hey is about a 1.5 miles East of Mankinholes and is reached from my house by walking down into a wooded clough, over the stream then up a farm track past more woods. Despite the sun there weren't that many birds about, not even a GS Woodpecker.

There was a grand view looking back from the top of Strait Hey towards Todmorden, with snow on the hills over towards Pendle Hill -

Todmorden in right of photo, Mankinholes is to the left

A Curlew and a Skylark were singing on Edge End Moor and as I approached the Pennine Way a few Meadow Pipits started appearing, one of which was parachuting and singing. Another 2 Curlews were singing on Erringden Moor which made my morning really as there is nothing finer than seeing and hearing Curlews singing on a bright Spring morning in God's Own County.

Just over the moor I could see my route along the bottom of Stoodley Pike -

Stoodley Pike with a dusting of snow

No early Wheatears but there were plenty of Mipits as I continued towards Mankinholes and Lee Dam. At the dam a small party of Blue and Great Tits were feeding in the trees and a Goldcrest appeared at last - my first of the year would you believe! A Robin was singing from the top of a fir tree and it made a splendid photo -

Robin in full flow

Back home through Mankinholes and I checked the walls for Little Owls - there they were as usual :)

2 Little Owls

On the cliffs at Hornsea

Walked on the cliff tops this morning to clear away last night's over-indulgence from my head!

There were 5 Skylarks up and singing and they've been here for a couple of weeks now. A nice surprise was 3 Meadow Pipits, the first of the year here, 2 of which were parachuting and singing. There has been an influx of Mipits over the last couple of days so there should be more and more to be seen.

A Barn Owl was over the fields and a male Kestrel was eating freshly caught prey.

2 Oystercatchers on the short grass by cliff edge and 3 unidentified waders were flushed from the long grass. They were up and flying away into the wild blue yonder before I could get my bins on them and the view I had of their bills told me they weren't Snipe or Jack Snipe, they didn't call as they took off so I reckon they weren't Redshank either. I'll check back tomorrow morning and see if they're still about.

On the shallow scrape there were 7 Teal, 2 Moorhen, a Coot with nesting material in its bill and 4 Mallard.

Lower Gorple Reservoir this morning

I walked up to Lower Gorple Res this morning in bright sunshine and clear blue skies, so it was a pity about the biting stiff breeze that lowered the temperature so much! I was going in the hope that the Water Pipit was still about as it was last seen Monday afternoon. Approaching the reservoir I could see people working on the path from the small car park and also a couple of diggers by the dam wall so I was expecting the worst as the Pipit had been reported as flighty. Luckily the machinery by the wall wasn't in use so I settled myself in the lee of the parapet looking down the narrow drain to keep out of the wind, with a couple of Pied Wagtails for company.

After about 15 mins I heard a call behind me in the wide run-off drain, so I had a look and the Water Pipit was in the drain feeding. I have to say that without seeing the photos previously posted on here and without hearing the call I wouldn't have picked it as a Water Pipit as it looked too pale. It flew onto the grass by the diggers and then it flew off onto the shore line, and I didn't see it again. I took a few photos but they weren't good enough to post.

Also seen:
Curlew - 2
Golden Plover - 5
Lapwing - 11
Skylark - 3
Pied Wagtail - 3
Red Grouse - 1 calling
Song Thrush - 1

Song Thrush

Later at Mankinholes:
Little Owl - 2
Mistle Thrush - 2
Redwing - 1
Raven - 1 overhead

On the beach

I took a walk along the beach this morning in the wind and rain. There wasn't a soul about other than me so I had the whole place to myself. The tide was on its way out and a few Herring Gulls, Great Black Backed Gulls, Black Headed Gulls and 3 Sanderling were on the tide line feeding.

Walking along I checked the cliffs for birds but nothing was showing, although I could hear a Skylark singing. Further along, the erosion over the winter had been particularly bad and the face where Sand Martins had been was totally washed away.  It brought to mind part of Jethro Tull's song Thick As A Brick -
And the sand-castle virtues are all washed away in
The tidal destruction
the moral melee
but with "Sand Martin's nest holes" substituted for "sand-castle virtues". It's strange what goes through your mind when your wandering along on your own! No doubt they will rebuild in the same way that House Martins rebuild when their nests fall down, after all coastal erosion is hardly a new phenomemon.

By the way we didn't manage to see the Water Pipit last Tuesday so I did have a double dip unfortunately.

No Smews is bad news

Called in at North Cave Wetlands at lunchtime to see if the f. Smew was still there. Despite being quite a long stayer, the bird wasn't showing and no reports of it were received today. Never mind, a cup of tea, a bacon butty and a slice of Angie's famed Bakewell tart were more than compensation.

Plenty of birds about though including good numbers of Lapwing, Redshank, Shelduck and Oystercatcher. 

We're off to Gorple tomorrow to see if the Water Pipit is still there. It was first seen last Thursday and was still there today, here's hoping it's not two "dippers" in two days!