Patch Update

There's been lots of activity around the patch, unfortunately though only bringing me one new bird recently - a Mallard! Not for want of trying, i've spent a fair bit of time walking around the parks and managed to get to the woods a few times before work too.

A Goldfinch successfully fledged 3 chicks from a nest near work and a Woodpigeon has been sat on it's nest for almost two weeks now, so hopefully I might actually get to see a pigeon chick or two shortly.

The park in the town centre that I walk through on the way to work is full of Corvids, Thrush, Finches and all the usual songbirds at the moment. Earlier this week it even had 3 Pied Wagtails, they don't generally hang around the centre at this time of year.

I've signed up to the BTO's Garden Birdwatch recently and will be submitting my first results this weekend. Though there are plenty of birds to see from the window in the neighbouring park boundary area and other gardens, most of the visitors that actually land in my garden at the moment are Starlings, Sparrows and Goldfinch. It'll be interesting to see how it changes over the weeks.

The Red Kite made a pass over the house a couple of weeks back, it pretty much pulled up short to look down at us.

The warm weather (before this week!) brought out butterflies and we've had Whites and Comma's over the garden. There's been a lot of bees and bugs about especially with the cherry blossom in a neighbours garden.

Churwell woods are full of Blackcap and Chiffchaff at the moment, a Song Thrush sings from the same tree and it's there on the dipping pond I saw a female Mallard. I've seen my first Speckled Wood too. Dunnocks are singing by the dipping pond every time I walk by.

I've seen this Robin a few times, it's looking a little scruffy

I love being able to walk around here before work

Sychronised preening

Finally I watched a pair of Rooks carry off a pile of chicken someone had dropped in Morrisons car park.

Fingers crossed next time I have a patch update i'll be able to add Swallows and Swifts to the list!

Judy Woods

My husband drove past these woods a month or so back and we checked them out at the weekend. I'd never heard of them before despite not being too far away. They cover quite a large area but we didn't have time to explore it all, there's more information about them here. They have quite a history and there were a few information plaques dotted around.

As we parked a Chiffchaff was singing by the side of the road. The trees did look deceptively barren when we first went in but on closer inspection there were signs of life everywhere including a few Bluebells starting to appear.

I love these carvings on a fallen tree.

A Mistle Thrush and Blackbird flew across the path in front of us. In a little patch of green a GS Woodpecker flew around the trees along with Blue and Great Tits. In fact there were many Blue Tits in the woods, more than i've seen in any one place for a while. We also saw Song Thrush, Blackcap, Jays, Magpies, Crows, Wrens, Robin, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch and a Kestrel hunting in a field by the bridge.

(Good job the Woodpecker is so bright or you'd never spot it!)

Theme of the day, birds turning their back or flying off just as i'm taking a photo!

There is a path running through the woods, which looks to be well used by horses, luckily there is a walkway/steps running down the side of it making it much easier (and cleaner) to walk down to the bridge.

It'll be nice to come back and see it with the trees looking not so bare although the twists and turns in some of the big old trees are amazing.

Bolton Abbey

Our traditional Easter visit to Bolton Abbey took place on the wettest day of the Easter weekend - great planning there!

I spotted my first Swallow of the year though as we turned onto the estate.

I thought we'd be a little early for some of the stars of the woods there - the Flycatchers, Redstarts and Wood Warblers although a gentleman we spoke to had seen one Pied Flychatcher and a couple of Redstarts. We thought we saw a Redstart but didn't see it for long enough to be sure, no Flycatcher though, it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack I think!

Not that it matters it's always a great walk around, even in the rain. Off the bat we spotted a Treecreeper by the river and there were lots of Tits around too. Pied and Grey Wagtails flitted about the rocks up and down the river, we saw plenty up to the Strid. A Mandarin sat on a rock and a Goosander and Cormorant flew past.

Once past there we saw Nuthatch, Song Thrush, heard Chiffchaff and saw a couple of Common Sandpiper. Nearer Barden Bridge we finally saw our first Dippers of the day, followed by a pair of Goosander. On the fields we saw Oystercatchers and Redshank. A few Sand Martins were flying about the banking.

The sun came out a little and it warmed up. The walk up the side of the river to the little hut was positively summer like! Though everything is still very wet.

Spot the birds!

We stopped at the hut for lunch with the birds who were out in abundance, along with a couple of mice who were running around the bricks. A lovely moment when we were joined by a GS Woodpecker that hung around for a while. We ended up sitting there almost an hour just enjoying the view and the birds.

We took a little detour up towards the Valley of Desolation but my back was screaming a little by this point so we ended up turning back before we got there. We did see some black rabbits around the edges of the fields and heard a couple of Chiffchaffs.  Of course the lambs caught our eye, you can't miss them!

I spotted a large bird of prey high up over the hillside, actually two but I only got a decent look at one of them, first thought Buzzard because of the size, then I realised it was not Buzzard like, too much white underneath, the wings were mostly bent, It stayed pretty far away and went behind the hill a couple of times, I snapped few really bad photos, I had an idea what it was but wanted to double check first, managed to tidy up the photos just enough to get confirmation on the bird ID group on Facebook - Osprey!! My first one ever! To say i'm pleased is an understatement!

What a great end to our walk!!

That and my 11yr old constantly talking about how amazing it was that she got such close views of the Woodpecker made my day!