Pam's Place

Fairburn Ings

2012-01-15T11:39:00.013Z

We took a trip over to Fairburn Ings just after Christmas and despite the freezing winds we spent a few hours there.

Even managed a new bird for me, a Redpoll on the feeders by the visitor centre.

The feeders were very busy all around the reserve.

At the Lin Dyke hide we spotted plenty of Canada Geese, Black Headed Gulls and Mallards. A lone Lapwing stood in the water and there were Wigeon, Tufted Ducks, Moorhens and Mute Swans in the distance. By the edge of the water there was a group of Teal.

There were plenty of other birds around too, Fieldfare, Cormorants, Chaffinch, Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks, Moorhens, Coots and Pheasants.

The lake was heaving with Swans, Mallards and Black Headed Gulls all trying to get a look in at the feed you can purchase from the shop. The strong winds made it hard going for the Gulls but they are persistant!

At the park

2011-12-27T14:50:00.008Z

Had an early morning walk around our local park today, spotting plenty of birds and squirrels amongst other things along the way.

Some early blossom.

Autumn

2011-11-06T11:08:00.008Z

Squabble!

2011-10-30T09:02:00.010Z

Some kind person dropped their chips across the road from our house yesterday. It lead to quite a raucous fight between a lone Magpie and up to a dozen Black Headed Gulls. The Magpie stood it's ground though and came away with the most chips!

It's the first time i've seen the Gulls right outside the house like this, it's rare they get so close here.

Scarborough

2011-10-16T08:24:00.009+01:00

A few pictures from a recent trip to the East Coast.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-13T18:35:00.002+01:00

Garden update

2011-07-03T10:39:00.014+01:00

The fledglings have been few and far between after last years high numbers. We have still had plenty of young Starlings and House Sparrows but only a couple of Goldfinch and only 5 Blue Tits. There have been a couple of Great Tits and a brief visit from a Robin. There have been no Blackbird youngsters in the garden at all. Some of the pictures are taken through the window!

We are still having plenty of visits from all our usual birds but it's been a shame we've had so few juveniles.

The Sparrowhawk is still around (which may explain the lack of young birds!) and I've watched it flying high over the houses on quite a few occasions. There are the usual 7 Swifts at the moment too - always a joy to sit and watch. Speckled Woods have been in the garden in abundance - never when I have the camera though We watched a dozen Tortoiseshell's almost dancing with each other over the gardens.

This afternoon my daughter spotted a grasshopper on our chair and I managed a couple of photos before it leapt off into the roses!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T19:21:00.003+01:00

Starlings

2011-05-26T22:07:00.004+01:00

We had our first young Starling in the garden this morning - just the one so far though!

Around the garden

2011-05-25T10:13:00.010+01:00

It's been a while so I thought i'd do a little garden update.

Our Swifts arrived on the 10th a couple of days later than usual and I heard them first before spotting a couple over the house - there are 6 around at the moment. Lovely birds to sit and watch - I spent a lot of time in the evening doing that last year and no doubt will this year too.

The birds in the garden had been a little quiet until the past week or so. We had our first youngsters - House Sparrows at the beginning of the week and they are making short work of the bird seed on the feeder. Most seem to be feeding themselves or at least having a go but certainly aren't turning down anything offered by a parent!

We have a pair of Blue Tits who are almost eating the fat balls single handedly (beakedly!?), so I guess we have a brood of chicks close by as this happened last year resulting in some lovely scenes when the chicks fledged so fingers crossed we get them same this time.

Other than that we have been lacking in activity - no sign of any young Blackbirds, the Coal and Long Tailed Tits have disappeared and the Goldfinch are down to maybe 4 or 5. We do have a Great Tit now and again, several Starlings - no youngsters there yet and plenty of House Sparrows. Dunnocks, Woodpigeons, Collared Doves and a Robin round off the garden visitors at the moment.

There are the usual Black Headed Gulls overhead and we do get Crows and Magpies in the trees around.

One thing I did notice in my garden - most of my flowers appear to be blue/purple, I didn't realise until a lot of them seemed to flower at once! Most of them were there when we moved in so maybe a conscious thought on the previous owner?

Of course my favourites don't adhere to this and are a glorious red and now just about frame my door and windows after a bit of thorny work at the weekend!

Now i'm off to check out some of the blogs i'm following - i've missed a lot!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T06:28:00.006+01:00

Bolton Abbey

2011-04-22T21:52:00.022+01:00

We spent Good Friday at Bolton Abbey - getting a early start to have a wonder before the crowds arrived. It was a beautiful day and as we walked up through the Strid Woods we only came across a handful of people - it was very peaceful with only the birdsong and the sound of the river around us.

I heard a noise off the path and spotted a Roe Deer just up in the woods - we stopped to watch as it stood for a while, another joined it before they both ran off - a beautiful moment!

We soon spotted Dippers on the river and Kingfishers too, the Dippers were not hanging around for photos at first though and the Kingfishers landed too far away, I managed a distant blurry shot of one!

The woods were filled with Chaffinch, Robins, Blue, Great, Coal and Long Tailed Tits, Wrens, Jackdaws and Nuthatches we also saw Song and Mistle Thrushes.

On the river there were quite a few pairs of Mallards - I saw my first youngsters of the year, a lone Goosander and the odd Pied Wagtail on rocks.

On the banks the Sand Martins are already quite at home and we saw quite a few flying in and out the holes there - one even briefly landed on a fence post nearby.

There were plenty of butterflies amongst the flowers we saw Small Whites, Orange Tips, Peacocks and Red Admirals.
I also saw my first Swallows of the year too flying about a nearby farm, I haven't seen them in the local haunts yet. I'll post about the Dippers in my next post.

Around the park

2011-03-27T21:16:00.006+01:00

Took a walk at our local park early this morning, depsite a fair few dog walkers and my noisy 5 yr old there was a lot of birds about.

This Chaffinch was a little shy!

We watched this Magpie gathering up mud and twigs for quite a while - looked to be nest building in a nearby tree.

There were also Blue Tits, Goldfinch, Blackbirds, Magpies, Collared Doves and a couple of Squirrels too.

Most of the trees are still bare, there are quite a few of trees in full blossom around at the moment but not in the park!

Little signs of life on the branches though

Finally a couple of pictures of the flowers we saw

Adel Dam

2011-02-18T09:27:00.010Z

As always Adel Dam was fairly quiet despite the crowds in Golden Acre - from a selfish point of view it's lovely but on the other hand it's a shame people seem to overlook it - they don't know what they are missing!

At the first hide we watched Coal, Great, Blue and Long Tailed Tits, a few Mallards, a Chaffinch and a squirrel.

When we went back outside my husband spotted something moving in the undergrowth - a Bank Vole, it ran about on and off some logs for quite a while - too quick for a photo unfortunately. As far I as can remember it's the first time i've seen one.

The little stream was flowing quite fast for a change though not quite the waterfall my daughter described it as!

Walking around we saw plenty of fungus - it's quite a haven for it here - we never fail to spot some every time we visit.

From the main hide the only thing of interest we saw was a pair of Teal in the distance and a couple of Moorhens.

Not the most bird filled afternoon but we all enjoyed it and that's the main thing!

Golden Acre Park

2011-02-13T12:00:00.014Z

We visited Golden Acre and Adel Dam yesterday afternoon - it was a gorgeous day and we made the most of it. There were plenty of birds on the water - Mallards, Canada Geese, Moorhens, Coots, a few Tufted Ducks and a flock of Black Headed Gulls.

The Gulls were spooed by a dog and spent a while flying above our heads before settling back on the water.

We saw signs of new life as we walked...

The old life didn't look too bad either in the sun.

Feeding areas have now been set up in parts of the park and they were awash with Squirrels, Blue, Great and Coal Tits. They all seem quite used to the people and dogs that were around and we spent quite a while watching them.

I spotted this Robin singing away and managed a few shots.

I'll post on Adel Dam later in the week.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

2011-02-01T18:40:00.002Z

I had time to squeeze in an hour of garden watching on Saturday just after lunch. My garden has been busy throughout the day over the past few weeks so I was hoping this would be as good a time as any as it was the only chance I would have!

It didn't go too badly - here is what I sent in to the RSPB

6 Blackbirds
2 Blue Tits
1 Chaffinch
1 Coal Tit
2 Dunnocks
7 Goldfinch
1 Great Tit
9 House Sparrows
2 Long Tailed Tits
1 Robin
4 Starlings

Of course as my hour was up the garden filled with Starlings, Blackbirds and Sparrows! It probably wasn't the best time but it was all I could do and I was quite pleased with what I saw, especially the Long Tailed Tits as they don't visit often.

In the garden

2011-01-09T09:16:00.012Z

Despite plans to get out and about in the New Year all is not going to plan as family members have been struck down with Swine flu. Hopefully everyone is now on the mend and the new year is going to start getting a little better!

So i'm going to post on what's been happening in the garden over the past week or so. We have had two new garden birds - a male Reed Bunting and a male Siskin. It's only the second time i've seen a Siskin and it was around a few days.

There has been plenty of activity from all the usual birds Goldfinch, Coal, Blue and Great Tits, Dunnocks, Starlings, House Sparrows, Robin, Collared Doves, Woodpigeon. There has been the odd visit from a Wren, Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinch and Greenfinch. Also an increase in the number of Blackbirds upto 7 or 8 at a time around the garden.

Yesterday morning we had a surprise as a large fox walked down the garden as we ate breakfast - it was quite beautiful and we watched as it leapt over the fence and made it's way off through the neighbours gardens. Unfortunately I didn't get to the camera quick enough for a shot. I know we have them around here but it's the first time i've seen one in the garden.

Here are a few shots - as usual taken through the windows (which need a good clean!).

The lawn is taking a bit of a battering from the niger seed at the moment, despite having the niger feeders the amount of birds constantly on them is sending the seed flying -takes some cleaning up!

Finally some shots of the Siskin, it was a little shy and wouldn't turn around for the camera!!

Oakwell Hall

2010-12-28T14:22:00.008Z

Had a walk around the icy grounds this morning, it was a pretty miserable day but we needed the fresh air!

There were Blackbirds, Goldfinch and Blue Tits everywhere. The place was a little eerie though with the fog and didn't make for good photo taking, but here are a few from the walk.

Finally some of the very little greenery around today - 'tis the season.....

Holidays!

2010-12-24T17:56:00.002Z

A short post to wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Life has overtaken me at the moment and we have barely had time to go anywhere. Hopefully in the New Year when things calm down i'll be back to posting as normal.

More Snow

2010-12-05T12:26:00.010Z

We had quite a downfall of snow during the last week, made for some lovely photos. Also made for a lot of defrosting and snow clearing of the bird feeders. The birds have been in and out of the garden non stop over the past few days. A group of Chaffinch have taken to hanging around all day and I hope they stop once the snow has gone.

The pumpkin is still on the table!

First Snow of Winter

2010-11-28T16:48:00.010Z

It fell overnight Friday and also a little today. We don't have a lot but it's covered everything and really brought out the birds into the garden once i'd defrosted the water and topped up the feeders! We even had a rare visit from 2 female and one male Chaffinch and a Greenfinch.

Here are a few pictures taken over the weekend.

Yeadon Dam

2010-11-20T19:47:00.014Z

Managed to squeeze in an hour or so walking around the Dam this morning. It was a pretty dismal day but at least it wasn't raining. It looks a lot different now the leaves are gone, it all looked a little bleak.

This was the only splash of colour we saw.

The water has been taken over by Mallards, Canada Geese and Black Headed Gulls. Along with Coots and Moorhens - some obvious youngsters amongst them. A lone pair of Tufted Ducks were out in the middle of the water. Then in the middle of the Mallards I spotted a pair of Pochards.

Nice to see the difference in plumage in these Mallards.

This tiny nest was in one of the trees - no idea who would have made this?

As we neared the end of the walk a pair of Cormorants flew in, as far as I can remember in all the years i've been coming here I have never seen Cormorants here before. Of course they landed across the other side and when we walked around to try and get a better shot they had already gone to the side we just left - I think they knew! So unfortunately this is the best I got.

Finally we spotted this large growth of Fungus at the bottom of this tree.

Around the Garden

2010-11-08T19:24:00.011Z

Just a little update on whats going on in the garden at the moment. It's looking very wet and windswept tonight but over the weekend we had some lovely sun and it brought out all the birds.

The Nasturtiums are still going strong as are the Cosmos flowers, new ones are still popping out even now.

On Sunday afternoon as it started getting dark, I spotted this Sparrowhawk in the trees, I just had time for a couple of photos through the window before it flew off. A great way to end the day!

Autumn in the park

2010-10-22T20:02:00.009+01:00

Due to various bugs and bad backs we haven't been out much over the past few weeks but today we took a walk up to the park. It was a beautiful day despite the cold wind and clouds

We caught this little guy digging about in the leaves.

Some other pics from the day.

Fairburn Fungus

2010-09-29T20:23:00.011+01:00

We spotted quite an array of fungus at Fairburn at the weekend. I have to say this first one is the prettiest i've ever seen - if you can call them pretty!

Here are a some of the others we saw. The little one had quite a lot of fun trying to spot them before us.

Fairburn Ings

2010-09-26T09:03:00.018+01:00

An afternoon at Fairburn yesterday proved to be quite a rewarding day bird wise and the little one enjoyed herself too, which is always good. The RSPB website now have a woodland bingo game that can be printed off for the reserve, which was a good way of making it more interesting, she was ticking things off pretty quick and used the back of it to draw birds on in the hide!

We walked down to the Lin Dyke hide first seeing Long Tailed Tits on the way. From the hide we saw Wigeon, Teal, my first ever Shovelers, Cormorants, Lapwing, a lone Mallard and a herd of the cattle that roam the fields there.

Lapwing
Onto the reserve by the visitor centre where we saw our first Tree Sparrows of the day. From the Pick up hide there was a lot of activity round the feeders from Goldfinch, Pheasants, Chaffinch, Great and Blue Tits. On the water we could see Moorhens, Mallards and overhead Kestrels.

The feeding station had all the usual birds plus Greenfinch with Mallards and a Moorhen picking up the dropped seed.

We ended up walking the entire lake and back along the road to the visitor centre. From the cut hide we saw Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Lapwings, Shovelers, Wren and two new birds Gadwall and a Stock Dove.

Through the afternoon we also saw Mute Swans, Greylag and Canada Geese, Shelduck, Herons and plenty of Crows and Black Headed Gulls. There was a great abundance of fungus too, which i'll post separately as we saw so much.

In the Garden

2010-09-22T20:46:00.013+01:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks in our garden. We have up to 24 Goldfinch, with over half of them juveniles in and around the feeders, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Robins, Starlings, House Sparrows, Collared Doves, Woodpigeons, Greenfinch, Magpies. A rare visit from a Chaffinch a couple of times too. The Dunnocks have been a bit scarce but the past couple of days we've had two or three around. The Blackbirds are starting to show up again in the trees, not quite venturing into the garden yet but it's nice to see and hear them around.

There have even been two new garden firsts, yesterday a Chiffchaff, which to be fair spent most of the time in the neighbours garden but I did get a few blurry shots through the window and it did make in to mine just! This morning we had a Great Spotted Woodpecker in our tree, it wasn't there long enough to grab the camera unfortunately. I have never seen a Woodpecker in our town in the 8 years i've lived here so to get one in the garden albeit briefly is fantastic. Fingers crossed something on our feeder will entice it back again.

Gallows Hill

2010-09-15T20:38:00.016+01:00

We spent Saturday afternoon walking around Gallows Hill in Otley until it got too muddy to keep going! The trees and bushes were laden with berries though we hardly saw any birds around taking advantage.

In fact we only saw the odd Woodpigeon and a lbj in the trees, which from this photo is most likely to be a Chiffchaff. Unfortunately it wasn't singing to no help there.

We got caught in a couple of rain showers, even though the sun was shining across the river. It produced this Rainbow just over the water, which my little one spotted. All the rain meant the river was pretty full and very fast flowing, we watched some ducks struggling against the current a while before they finally gave in and went with the flow.

A few of these strange looking plants were dotted about under the trees, I don't recall seeing anything like this before, any ideas?

This was the only fungus we saw and I had to pretty much sit in the mud to get a photo but I liked how it looked (I know who thought i'd get excited about fungus!).

Just to finish off with a few other shots from the day.

Waterton Countryside Discovery Centre

2010-08-31T18:35:00.019+01:00

After seeing signs for this place on numerous visits to friends in Wakefield we finally made the detour to check it out. We walked around the lake at the Anglers Country Park. Despite it being early afternoon and packed in the car park once we were walking there was enough space to enjoy the afternoon without being too crowded with people and dogs. The park is full of information boards which our little one always checks out.

There are two hides on the site, one overlooking The Pol and one overlooking an area of the lake called The Shallows. The one at The Pol seemed a little overlooked by a lot of people as it was hidden down a boardwalk, which was fine by us! It was pretty quiet with a couple of Moorhens and a few dragonflies, we did hear we had just missed a Water Rail though.

The Shallows hide was a great spot and is in a reserve area of the lake where some of the land is restricted, our friends told us that part of the are was cordoned off earlier this year when the birds were breeding.

As we walked to it there was quite a few Swallows overhead, they turned out to be nesting nearby and we actually saw 3 or 4 chicks with their wide open mouths being fed by one of the adults. Our little one loved seeing that the best I think.

From the hide we saw many Lapwing and Canada Geese, both with lots of youngsters. Three Cormorants sat on a raft and a fourth flew in while we watched. There were Crows and Starlings by the waters edge too. A Heron stood on the furthest island with it's back to us the whole time! Again there were Moorhens, with Mallards and Coots too. We saw a pair of new birds for us - Greenshank.

Our walk also produced House Martins, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Great Crested Grebes and a lone Pied Wagtail.

We will definitely be back, it will be interesting to see what other birds may turn up in The Shallows over the winter months.

Here are some of the other things we saw.

Not sure what this caterpillar is but we saw them at Rodley too.

Ruddy Darter (?)

Plenty of flora too

Rodley Nature Reserve

2010-08-22T16:00:00.015+01:00

Rodley had a summer fair yesterday, which deservedly seemed to be well attended. We took a walk around the reserve too of course.

We didn't see much on the water though we didn't really expect to - mostly Coots, Mallards, Moorhens and a family of Swans on the waters edge. There were 3 or 4 Herons perched in a distant tree and Cormorants on the pylon again.

Despite the people we managed to see some little birds in amongst the plants in the field between the Willow Coppice and the ponds. There were plenty of them and after hanging around a bit I got some good views, though no photos, they were too quick for that. Good enough views to id them as Willow Warblers - yet another new bird for me and what a gorgeous bird too, so tiny and perfect looking with their olive and yellow colouring.

When we had parked our car we immediately saw a very large dragonfly, which turned out to be a Brown Hawker. We soon saw plenty more around the reserve and the ponds were full of all sorts of dragonfly.

Brown Hawker

Common Blue Damselfly

Here are some of the other things we spotted.

Harlequin Ladybird (Conspicua)

Toad

Smooth Newt (I think)

Water Snails

Small Copper Butterfly (edit)

If i've got any of the id's wrong feel free to let me know!

Out & About

2010-08-17T10:12:00.015+01:00

Here are a few photos from Yeadon Tarn, Oakwell Hall and a field!

At the tarn there were between 40-50 House Martins in the skies and flying over the water along with a few Swallows. These are the best shots I could get of them.

There were also huge flocks of Starlings flying about - most of them landing in some bushes at the top end of the tarn, which was already full of noise from the Starling already there. I've not seen so many here before.

Of course the usual Mallards, Coots, Moorhens and Canada Geese were there too. Most of the youngsters now where almost as big as the adults, it was only the plumage that set them apart. One of the Moorhens still had three tiny chicks that they were feeding. I noticed that a lot of Gulls are coming back inland now and there were Black Headed Gulls everywhere.

At Oakwell Hall it was pretty busy which scared off any birds apart from some Moorhens. We did see plenty of butterflies and dragonflies. They were mostly red and this is the best shot I got of them, I'm not sure on the id but maybe a Common Darter?

The ever present Speckled Wood

The field is locally known as Parkinsons field in Guiseley where I (and hoards of others) used to play and sledge as kids. It has now been left to go wild and I hadn't been in about twenty years.

A little work has been done recently on tidying it up - Parkinsons Field - I must admit I was quite shocked at just how wild it has become!

It's a nice little walk to get there.

It was full of flowers and butterflies, the only one that stayed still long enough was this Gatekeeper.

I'm not sure what will happen to this space now, but hopefully with a little looking after it will become a little haven amongst all the new houses that are being built around it.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-10T20:15:00.004+01:00

Fairburn Ings

2010-08-03T19:11:00.018+01:00

We spent Saturday afternoon at the Ings, it's our first visit in a while. For a change we started at the Lin Dyke area - we've never been here before as we've always run out of time. On the walk down to the hide we saw plenty of Speckled Wood and Meadow Heath butterflies.

We also saw plenty of these - which I think are Blue Damselflies but I'm definitely no expert so if anyone knows otherwise feel free to let me know.

From the hide we saw plenty out on the mud and water - juvenile Pied Wagtails, Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, (I had to check id's on Birdforum for some of these so thank you for the help there!), Lawing, Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Mallards and a Kestrel hovering overhead.

Outside the hide we had a quick glimpse of a Whitethroat before if flew off into the scrub. So far a good day - three new birds for me - hitting and passing the 100 mark in the space of half an hour! A Common Tern flew over head making a lot of noise along with several Black Headed Gulls.

Walking as far as the bridge we saw Cormorants, a juvenile Great Crested Grebe and so many Coots the place was over run with them today! Up to the main car park by the visitor centre I saw a couple of Linnets.

There were quite a few juvenile birds around on the reserve feeders - Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue & Great Tits, Robins and Tree Sparrows.

The plants were covered in Ladybirds, which the little one loved (though she did get her first ever nettle sting whilst looking at them - no doubt causing every bird in a three mile radius to disappear at her wailing!).

She also spotted this spider hanging under the fencing, looked quite spooky against the sky.

At the pickup hide I saw another new bird for me - a Common Sandpiper

It was pretty quiet here though - a lone rabbit, Moorhens, a Heron and a Woodpigeon that walked into the water for a bath!

The water levels all round the reserve were pretty low and it really showed as we fed the birds from the viewing platform. The swans dipped their heads in the water to get the seed and their heads came up black from the mud.

A few last shots from the day.

Around the Garden Flora

2010-07-20T20:27:00.008+01:00

Some of the blooms from the past month or so.

Around the Garden Fauna

2010-07-20T19:15:00.014+01:00

I thought I'd do a garden update as I haven't for a while. As well as the regular birds we now have a regular Squirrel and a Hedgehog. We've seen the Hedgehog a few times and he often leaves us presents on the lawn so we know he's around!

Magpie Moth
Speckled Wood
Juvenile Robin

Golden Acre Park & Adel Dam (Pt 2)

2010-07-11T18:29:00.012+01:00

At the top of the lake there is access to Adel Dam, though many people seem to overlook it (which is not such a bad thing as it's nice to have the place almost to yourself!). We could hear a Woodpecker almost straight away but it eluded us for now. At the first hide we sat quite a while watching a large group of Great Tit's on the feeders. A young Moorhen swam across the pond and there were butterflies all over. It all looked quite beautiful in the sun.

Taking a walk through the woods we spotted Large Whites, Commas, Orange Tips and then a Red Admiral basking in the sun on the hide wall.

In the hide a very helpful chap pointed out a female Shelduck, a Red Kite and what I had taken for a Mallard (I didn't have my binoculars - I know how could I forget them!!) was actually a female Mandarin with two chicks. I quick photo and a zoom in and I could see the stripe by the eye and the different markings. That makes bird number 99 for me as i've only ever seen a Mandarin in bird gardens before, the chicks were very similar to Mallard chicks.

As walked around the woods we spotted a Nuthatch in the trees. Back near the entrance by the beck we had a sudden sighting of the elusive Woodpecker that we had kept hearing all the way round. It was pretty well hidden though you can just about see it in this shot.

In this little patch we were surround by birds - Song Thrush, Blackbirds, a Wren, Woodpigeon, Great and Blue Tits. Then I spotted something moving up the tree trunk - Treecreepers - 3 of them! It's only the second time I have ever seen them and the best views too. I was really happy with spotting those and we watched for a while before they were disturbed by a family walking by.
A beautiful morning for a walk and we all really enjoyed. The little one was really excited to see a Woodpecker and it was nice for the most part to have the place to ourselves.

Golden Acre Park & Adel Dam (Pt 1)

2010-07-11T15:38:00.014+01:00

We had a couple of hours to spare yesterday morning and spent it exploring Golden Acre & Adel Dam (I didn't realise just how close the Dam is to the park!). As soon as we went near the water we were mobbed from all sides by the birds looking for handouts, we did stop and oblige to keep the little one happy (and the ducks too!).

There were several Coot and Moorhen youngsters amongst the throng and some Mallard chicks which stuck to the water. A couple of Canada and Greylag Geese rounded off the water birds here.

A full circle of the lake revealed rabbits, a Blackbird sunning itself and several more foraging in the undergrowth. Some very friendly Squirrels, Great Tits and Chaffinch that were used to being fed nuts by a guy. Thrilled the little one no end when one took a nut from her hand (and made up for the us having her sit still in the hides round the dam!).

The gardens are kept beautifully here and there were butterflies everywhere - Small Tortoisehell, Red Admiral, Large White, Orange Tip and Commas. We didn't have time to go onto Breary Marsh and Paul's Pond but it did look very green and thick with vegetation.

Adel Dam to follow.

Swifts

2010-07-03T21:38:00.010+01:00

We have had up to eight Swifts in 'residence' above our house since May. They are lovely to watch and i've spent a fair few evenings sat in the garden watching them screech about in the sky long after all the other birds have disappeared for the day.

They are difficult to photograph though I have tried and the best shot i'd come up with is this one, with the sun just catching the wing as it turned.

This morning though I watched all 8 birds behaving liked i'd never seen before. There were all flying at roof height and below, which made for great views from the bedroom window. They were flying pretty close to the buildings too. Three of them kept landing on the old factory opposite and seemingly trying to get into the cracks. I have never seen a Swift land before and it was quite something to watch!

Amazing what you can see from your own window!

Lapwings

2010-06-26T19:41:00.005+01:00

We went for a drive out today and I had a bit of a dilemma! We spotted a Lapwing flying over the road and pulled up to watch. As we pulled up we could hear another calling quite noisily. It was in the field to the side of us.

I spotted on the grass verge right by the road a small chick, which kept trying to run into the grass but couldn't seem to get through. We watched a while and it didn't seem to be making any progress, the adult was still in the field just over the hedge. I was in two minds what to do, the chick was so close to the road, if it ran the wrong way... I know it's best not to interfere. In the end though I couldn't just drive off.

It crouched in the hiding position as I got close but I scooped it up quickly and let it run off my hand into the open entrance to the field where the adult was. It immediately got close as I left them to it. I felt much happier having done this and think it really would have struggled to get around that hedge.

Blue Tits

2010-06-22T20:16:00.011+01:00

We finally had Blue Tit fledglings in the garden last Saturday morning and every day since. There is a group of four with an adult. They are fantastic to watch - almost like an aerial display team, swooping in from all sides and hanging from anything they can - usually upside down.

Rodley Nature Reserve

2010-06-21T17:48:00.016+01:00

We visited for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty quiet for birds and people but we had a good walk around explored the meadow walk which we hadn't done before.

The usual birds were on the water - Coots, Mallards and Moorhens, the latter two with young and the former still nesting. Tufted Ducks, Mute Swans, a family of Canada Geese and a brief glimpse of a Little Grebe before it ducked under the water and disappeared amongst the reeds

There were plenty of Jackdaws, Swifts and Sand Martins over the water too and a Heron flew overhead. We spent a while in one of the hides watching a Lapwing at one side and Reed Buntings (living up to their names and hanging on the reeds!) and Cormorants at the other. We did see quite a few lbjs that we just couldn't id.

At the ponds there were quite a few tadpoles but no sign of any dragon/damsel flies or for that matter any butterflies today. We did surprise a Toad under one of the special lift up areas they have dotted about.

We finished off at the managers garden, which at first was empty bar a Great Tit and Dunnock. Then a beautiful Jay flew in and spent quite some time on the various feeders - it's our best view ever of this bird. It was still there when we left.

It's always a great visit here, we always spend a good couple of hours exploring and could have stayed longer but we were pushed for time. I love that it's quite hidden away behind the houses and i'd highly recommend a visit.

Wren

2010-06-18T10:26:00.006+01:00

I had my first ever young Wren in the garden last weekend. It was making an awful lot of noise and a young Dunnock seemed very curious about it! It hung around about twenty minutes and i've not seen it again since unfortunately.

It almost looks like that it has something missing at the back!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T09:50:00.002+01:00

RSPB Make your nature count

2010-06-14T11:17:00.007+01:00

I did my nature count last Thursday whilst my little one was at school. It was great just to sit and watch the garden without having to get up and do something else! I had some decent results.

2 Dunnocks

1 Robin

1 Blue Tit

5 Starlings

8 House Sparrows

5 Goldfinch

2 Blackbird

1 Magpie

1 Collared Dove

1 Woodpigeon

Unfortunately I couldn't see any Swifts - well not until my hour was up of course! It also provided my first sighting this year of two juvenile Goldfinch which flew in briefly and returned with a third later in the afternoon.

Great Tit v House Sparrow

2010-06-08T19:33:00.008+01:00

I've been trying out the burst function on the camera a fair bit recently, not always with good results. I did catch the Great Tit having a bit of a go at a Sparrow recently. Not all the shots are clear but it shows a great interaction between them (maybe not so great for the Sparrow!).

I love this shot.

The Winner

New Life

2010-06-01T19:53:00.015+01:00

Over the past couple of weeks we have had quite a few young birds in the garden mostly House Sparrows at first. Followed by Greenfinch and then finally on Friday our first Starlings. Since then the juvenile Starlings have been taking over the garden, eating everything we put out in pretty quick time (most of the photos have been taken through the window).

This Sparrow had just managed very nicely to catch a fly - you can just see the wings outside it's beak - but then sat quite a while with it hanging like that as if not quite sure what to do with it.

First sighting of the Starlings before they descended into the garden.

Greenfinch young, Dad was sat on the sunflower seed feeder above dropping seeds onto the floor.
Some of the other visitors to the garden.

Peekaboo

Two to go!

2010-05-20T15:05:00.011+01:00

Took a trip around the dam last Saturday picking up my first new bird of the weekend though I didn't know at the time! I spotted a small bird singing across a muddy area on the park and as I didn't have the binoculars I zoomed the camera in as far as possible and hoped for the best.

Not great photos but enough for the experts over at Bird Forum to confirm my first Sedge Warbler, listening to the song on the RSPB site helped out too, Warbler's are something that are lacking on my list having only confirmed a Chiffchaff before now.

There was plenty of activity on and off the water with Swifts and House Martins over our heads and Mallards, Canada and Greylag Geese, Coots and Moorhens on the water with plenty of youngsters about too.

With the Warbler here and the Dipper at Bolton Abbey i'm up to 98 on the list and it's looking good for making 100 before the end of the year!

Bolton Abbey

2010-05-17T10:56:00.021+01:00

We decided to head up to Bolton Abbey for the day last Sunday and took a very scenic route (a little bit unintentionally!). It did give us great views of this Curlew though so worth the detour!

After parking at the Strid car park we walked down to the river and started the little one on the Strid Wood bingo from their website - Bolton Abbey. She was very exited by this and found some starry moss in minutes! I spotted a bird flying down the river - a Dipper the first of 4 we saw throughout the day. This is a new bird for me and the one I'd hoped to see today.

We walked up to Barden Bridge and across to the other side before walking back down to the woods and the Cavendish Pavillion. There were plenty of Sand Martins about and we could see them flying in and out of the banks.

There were Grey and Pied Wagtails by the water, a Kingfisher flew past but didn't stop near by. Plus an Oystercatcher stood by itself in a field.

Through the woods we saw plenty of flowers.

Ground Ivy - I loved how this was just sat on top of the tree trunk.

Primrose
Bluebells (with a Small White Butterfly)

There were quite a few Nuthatch about today too, I just caught this one as it stopped moving about briefly.

When we stopped to eat we were mobbed by Mallards and a Black Headed Gull hung about nearby.
We also saw Chaffinch, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Pheasants, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Squirrels. Not huge on the bird front - no Redstarts but at that time of day and being busy I wasn't disappointed.
As we were about to leave the car park I spotted two deer just at the other side of the fence watching us! Quite surprised to see them but they must be used to people I suppose, great sight to end the day on!

Garden Birds

2010-05-13T21:05:00.018+01:00

Thought i'd add a post about some of the birds we get in the garden, the ones i've managed to get a decent photo of anyway. We had our first juveniles of the year a couple of weeks ago when 3 young Blackbirds spent a few days in the garden. One of them is still around. We have Starlings nesting in the gutter and they have been hatched a while and are making a lot of noise, i'm looking forward to seeing those.

So here are a few pics, some are taken through windows so look a little off! (One thing I have realised - I really need to clean the shed!!)

The usual Starling pose - upside down on the coconut!

The beautiful Robin
House Sparrows

Collared Dove
Greenfinch
With a Dunnock
Blue Tit
Blackbirds

Back at the Park

2010-05-13T20:07:00.015+01:00

Seen as the weather seemed to be staying fine I headed to the park again this afternoon. It was definitely worth the visit after I spent a good ten minutes or so watching this young Mistle Thrush along with a parent right alongside the path. They didn't seem bothered in the slightest that I was there and got quite close.

There were Blue Tits hanging upside down in quite a few trees, very nice to see amongst the blossom.
This Dunnock barely stood still long enough for me to get a photo without it appearing as a blur!

Of course the Blackbirds were everywhere.

A Small White Butterfly.

This was the only Bee on several bushes, it was making the most of all the pollen!

At the Park

2010-05-08T16:05:00.013+01:00

I took the camera out to the local park to try out some of the settings and get used to it a little more.

There were a few birds about and a squirrel made me jump running right across in front of me. I spent an hour there and my hands were numb from the cold wind but I got a few good shots.

The park was full of Blackbirds, this one posing on a memorial plaque for Princess Diana, which i've never noticed before.
This Song (I think) Thrush was singing almost the whole time I was in the park. No doubt someone will tell me now it's a Mistle though it sounded very nice!

A Chaffinch sat right on the end of this branch, a group of dog walkers walked past and it didn't seem bothered at all.

Wheldrake Ings

2010-05-04T14:17:00.015+01:00

I wanted to find somewhere to go on the way back from Bempton to make the most of our day out and decided on Wheldrake. It's the most difficult place we've had to find yet, not a single sign post though I suppose that does keep it more protected.

We walked over a bridge and checked out the information board before taking the walk around the meadow. I managed to spot a Chiffchaff in a tree after pinpointing the singing and waiting patiently a few minutes. It didn't hang around long enough for a photo unfortunately.

The first hide we came to overlooking the meadow was two storey and pretty impressive, don't think i've seen one quite like it! There were House Martins and a few Swallows flying overhead and in the distance we could see a couple of Herons. A male Pheasant was trying to attract the attention of a nearby female who seemed completely disinterested.

There are four hides altogether and we walked to each one, a walk which there and back is about 3 miles. The third hide overlooking the water gave us views of a few Mute Swans, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck and what looked like a Redshank in the distance.

We walked through the boarded path through the reed beds and saw a couple of Swan nests. At the last hide again not much to see though we could see a few geese far away but I hadn't brought the scope out of the car so I couldn't tell for sure what they were. As we headed back a little mouse ran along the path and hid under a Dock leaf, it was off before we could get a proper look to see what sort it was, though the tail was very stumpy.

The meadow that the path winds around looked beautiful.

On the walk back to the car we saw Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Long Tailed Tits, lots of birdsong all around us but the foliage is getting a bit too thick now to see properly and I can't id from just the song unfortunately. A long day for us especially my little one but she had lots of fun and loves looking out of the hides!

Bempton

2010-05-04T10:31:00.021+01:00

It's been just over a year since our last visit to Bempton therefore just over a year since I started this blog using the Bempton trip as my first proper post. Thank you to all who have checked out my posts since then and I hope to keep them coming.

So to Bempton, we arrived around 10am on Monday to a very very windy but sunny cliff top and not a bit of fog in sight! We made our way down to the clifftop and along to the left paths first of all. The wind was so strong at the viewing points that it was difficult to hold the camera still.

A lot of the birds where flying about including the Puffins, they were finding it difficult to land. The ones that were on the cliffs looked like they were clinging on for dear life. We saw Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets,Puffins and Kittiwakes on the cliffs. Jackdaws, Crows and Meadow Pipits were flying about the tops, one posed very nicely helping confirm the id on Birdforum.

We also saw these purple flowers everywhere we looked, despite my guide i'm still not sure what they are so if anyone does, can they let me know!

Without the fog the views were stunning!
Razorbills

Guillemots & Kittiwakes

Meadow Pipit

Last year we could barely see this Gannet colony but this time we got it in it's full glory. Amazing to watch them hovering round the rocks.

Back at the feeders by the RSPB shop I watched Tree Sparrows and Reed Buntings. There are also plenty of nest boxes around too and I caught a couple of the Tree Sparrows on them.

Unfortunately the Reed Bunting was pretty shy and I couldn't get a clear enough shot.

At the feeding station I saw my only new bird of the day - a Linnet, well a pair of Linnets. That brings my life list to 96! There were also Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Blackbirds and Tree Sparrows around too.
We were very pleased to finally see the cliffs properly and will be back again next year! We did go on to visit Wheldrake Ings but i'll post that separately.

Goldfinch

2010-04-29T19:34:00.009+01:00

The Goldfinch have been great practise for the camera, these beautiful birds always look good!

This is the second photo I took with it.

Then a few shots on the feeder taken from the patio doors

This one taken from a bedroom window

There are only a two or three Goldfinch around at the moment, we had up to 15 over the winter now i'm hoping they are off nesting somewhere and we'll soon get so see some juveniles again.

New Miller Dam

2010-04-25T18:14:00.012+01:00

Took a walk around the dam on Saturday afternoon, it was a gorgeous day so we made the most of it and went up through the woods, which we've not done before. Neither does anyone else it seems as there was hardly anyone about.

There was plenty of birdsong all around, some of which I didn't recognise. We did see Bullfinch, Long Tailed Tits, Great & Blue Tits, Chaffinch, Robins, Wrens and plenty of Crows. Butterflies were out in force too, basking in the sun and flying around our heads, Comma, Peacock, Small White, Red Admiral, Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood.

On the water we saw Great Crested Grebe, Mallards, Mute Swan, nesting Coots, Moorhens, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, lots of Black Headed Gulls and what looked very much like a couple of Common Terns too.

I made the most of the camera took a ridiculous amount of photos and overused the burst function but we got some lovely head shots of the Geese who were very happy to pose for me.

I think even managed to successfully ID some of the flowers too including these Wood Anemone, of course feel free to let me know if I've got it wrong!

Here are some of the images from the day.

New Camera

2010-04-22T21:08:00.011+01:00

Well, the camera arrived a couple of days ago and i've only had chance to take a few pics around the garden and briefly at the local park.

I've always had a pretty basic camera till now and i've been reading the novel (instructions) that came with it and my head is spinning with all the different functions! It's going to take me some time to get to grips with it all I think - i've been a point and click picture taker for so long, it's going to be hard to break the habit. Though no point in having a fancy camera if I don't know how to work it!

Saying that if I had the time i'd book myself on a basic photography course tomorrow, but I don't so it will be trial and error for me.

Here are a few i've taken so far.

House Sparrows

Grape Hyacinth BlackbirdFemale Chaffinch
Collared Dove
Mistle Thrush
Dunnock (have now moved the bird bath so I can get a clear shot of the feeder!)
One of the Starlings nesting in the guttering
I'll save the Goldfinch for another post, they are such beautiful birds I think they deserve their own post, plus i've taken lots of photos of them!!

Lotherton Hall

2010-04-18T08:36:00.016+01:00

Made the most of the sun on Saturday with an afternoon at Lotherton Hall, we checked out the bird gardens and walked around the ground. There were Rooks and Crows everywhere, the Rooks were nesting in a lot of the trees.

We saw quite a few butterflies too, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell but none of them settled enough for a photo. There is a feeder station in the wood which was covered in Chaffinch, I managed to get pretty close for a photo when a great big dog ran up and scared them all off!

The woods aren't very big but looked beautiful in the sun.

The Chaffinch were everywhere and I managed to get a couple of shots as they didn't seem too bothered by the people.

Along with a Pied Wagtail who never seem to bother too much about the people.

There were plenty of Ladybirds about too including this one on some tiny flowers, which I think are a type of Speedwell? Finished off the day with another new bird for me - a Red Legged Partridge, there were a few in a field on the way home - nice to see a lifer when you're not expecting it!

Our trusty little Kodak Easyshare camera is finally starting to fail on us, in the 6 years we've had it we have taken around 15,000 photos (mostly of the little one!!) and the error messages or just not switching on is becoming more and more frequent. We have taken the plunge and ordered a new one - after working out our budget and doing a bit of reading up we've gone for a Panasonic Lumix FZ38 it should be here by the end of the week so i'm looking forward to trying it out.

Yeadon Dam

2010-04-15T21:17:00.009+01:00

We stopped at the dam last weekend and it was pretty quiet on the water compared to our last visit. The birds that were there had been overfed on bread and I think were feeling pretty lazy!

There were Chaffinch and Great Tits in a small copse of trees to one side of the water, I managed to just get this Chaffinch before it flew of. We watched a Squirrel run about above our heads from tree to tree for a while.

There were plenty of signs that Spring is in full flow now, Coots were building nests, a group of male ducks made some very strong 'passes' at a poor female, nearly drowning her in the process and on a nicer note the trees are now starting look a lot more life like.

What a difference a couple of months makes!

Roundhay Park

2010-04-15T19:49:00.010+01:00

Took the little one off to Roundhay Park today, made the obligatory visit to Tropical World - had to pay a visit to see the baby Meerkats!

Then we headed out into the park and explored around the Upper Lake for a change. There is a wooded area that i've never been in before and we spent quite a bit of time around here listening to the bird song.

It was quiet and peaceful and the little one was happy watching a Coot on a nest in hope eggs would hatch any minute - they didn't in fact the Coot stood up and there were no eggs at all!

Anyway there were two Robins vying for our attention one either side of the fence and both quite friendly. I spotted movement on a tree and moved closer to see my first Nuthatch of the year, it even flew out onto some branches so we watched if for a while. A very large crow came along and had a bath in the stream. The birds are obviously very used to the people and didn't seem to mind us at all. Before we left the wood a male Blackcap put in and appearance and sang beautifully for us.

On the lake there were quite a lot of Tufted Ducks, Coots, Mallards and the odd Moorhen. A pair of Swans are nesting just under the island and one of them chased off a pair of Canada Geese, not just away from the nest but right off the lake.

Onto the the main lake we passed a lot of Crows, Jackdaws and the one or two squirrels. We sat and watched a Great Crested Grebe and a lot of Black Headed Gulls for a while. A bird suddenly flew around our heads making a lot of noise - an Oystercatcher! It flew up and down the lake, the Gulls weren't impressed but it stayed around a few minutes constantly squawking before flying off again over the trees. A very nice bird to end an the afternoon and a little surprising to see at Roundhay.

North Cave Wetlands

2010-04-12T14:34:00.015+01:00

We made the most of a trip to Newport, Hull for a family reunion this weekend and squeezed in a couple of hours birding beforehand. I asked on Birdforum if there was anywhere close by and found out that the wetlands were 10 minutes away from where we were going.

It was around 10 when we got there and we spent a good couple of hours walking around and checking out the three hides. There is a map available here and the actual reserve was easy to find and well signposted.

Our first Ladybirds of the year were found right by the first information board though they were hidden in the shade a little.

At the first hide which overlooks the village lake we were impressed by all of the information and guides on the walls. Plenty to help you make identifications of what you were seeing. We saw plenty too - there were Black Headed Gulls all over the reserve and they were certainly noisy as were the many Greylag Geese!

I got my first ever sighting here of Avocet, there were quite a few out on the lake and I was very pleased to see such an iconic bird. It's one i've always known since becoming a member of the YOC as a child! Nearby we saw 2 Snipe wading (an id I was helped with by another birder in the hide - thank you!) and a Little Ringed Plover running about on the sand.

There was no chance of any kind of decent photos of the birds so I stuck with the scenic views and will say that some of white dots on this one are Avocets!

The second hide overlooking the Island Lake was the biggest i've ever been in and very cold with the windows open too! But what a view, we could see, Avocet, Lapwing, BH Gulls, some other gulls which I didn't id but they were huge, Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Redhsank, Teal amongst others. We spent a while looking from all sides till the little one got too fidgety.

She could run off a bit of steam as we walked around the maize field, which gave me my first sighting of a Yellowhammer when two landed in the middle and ran about a while. The reedbed lake had two more Little Ringed Plovers, Redshank, Mute Swans, Lapwing and on the far side a huge number of Woodpigeons on the banking.

A nice little pathway led around the top end of the reserve and there was plenty of birdsong as we walked. Blue Tits, Chaffinch and Blackbirds were all around. Another first for this year were a few Swallows above our heads and Sand Martins over the water.

We had the south hide (which is accessed from the road) to ourselves for a while. There was a Great Crested & Little Grebe diving in front of us then a Cormorant popped up too. We had taken the scope I bought from Aldi, which i'd only ever tried out in the garden so far and though not as impressive looking as some we saw our little scope did quite well. I managed to id a Wigeon at the far side of the Main Lake and watch the Cormorant drying it's wings across there too.

The full list of birds we saw there with the lifers in bold. That 100 is getting closer!

Avocet
Blackbird
Black Headed Gull
Blue Tit
Canada Goose
Chaffinch
Coot
Cormorant
Crow
Great Crested Grebe
Greylag Goose
Jackdaw
Lapwing
Little Grebe
Little Ringed Plover
Mallard
Magpie
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Sand Martin
Shelduck
Snipe
Song Thrush
Skylark
Starling
Swallow
Teal
Tufted Duck
Wigeon
Wood Pigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer

Rodley Nature Reserve

2010-03-21T15:35:00.007Z

We spent a couple of hours at Rodley yesterday - in the pouring rain! We went prepared though and just about had the place to ourselves.

As we walked to the hide by the lagoon there was a very striking Bullfinch sat in a tree just by the road, we saw one on the way back out later too. In the hide we stayed a while and watched 2 Oystercatchers fly from one island to the next before flying off completely. There were plenty of noisy Coots on the water, a few Moorhens, a pair of sleeping Mute Swans, around 6 Tufted Ducks, Canada Geese and a new bird for me - a Little Grebe!

We stopped at the various hides as we walked down by the willow coppice spotting Black Headed and Herring Gulls, Jackdaws, Crows, more Tufted Ducks and another Little Grebe. In the field we saw a Pheasant.

The most time was spent in the hide overlooking the reed beds and grasslands, going from one side to the other. My little one spotted more of her fishing ducks (Tufted Ducks) and kept excitedly pointing them out. Then my husband spotted not one but two Water Rails on the grassland side, one was hidden in the reeds but another strutted about for a while.

We did get photos, not great ones though with the bad weather and bad camera but you can just about tell what it is!

As we watched we saw quite a few more Moorhens and Coots. In the distance 2 Herons appeared to be facing off, they spent the whole time we were there stood facing each other. Out at the grassland side we saw a pair of Greylag Geese and a pair of Shelduck too.

At the last hide looking out at the reeds we could just see some ducks across at the far side, they spent a lot of time with their bottoms in the air, I thought they looked like Wigeons but just couldn't get a good enough look to be sure, which is a shame as that would have been another life bird for me.

In the hide at the managers garden a little bit of patience paid of with some great views of male and female Reed Buntings, i've only ever seen one male before so was very pleased with this.

By now we were pretty cold and wet and the little one topped it off by falling in a muddy puddle! With one more life bird on the list I was pretty pleased we ignored the rain and went anyway.

Spring has Sprung

2010-03-18T14:31:00.007Z

The warmer weather has brought out all sorts of signs of spring at last. There are Crocus everywhere including just two in my garden. The verges along Woodhouse Moor in Leeds look beautiful with them, lots of purple, white and yellow, looks lovely every year.

Daffodils are popping up and some look like they are about to bloom any minute, though they are not my favourite flower it means we are definitely coming out of these winter months. My Bluebells are just coming up too along with many others which I have to confess until some of the flowers open i'll have no idea what they are! My garden does need a really good tidy up though.

The birds have been pulling apart the head of some Pampas grass which my little one brought home from a friend (I don't know why?!) and we left by the hedge. It seems to be some good nesting material for them. The House Sparrows spend a lot of the day in the hedge in the front garden and have made a nice little dust bath under it, which they must use as a break from nest building. The Dunnocks have increased in number and spend a lot of time flitting about the branches flapping their wings at each other.

I also spotted two Woodpigeons building a nest in a tree right in the centre of Leeds, not sure if this is a good idea as the tree doesn't seem strong enough but I guess time will tell.

This afternoon I saw my first bee, which had snuck into the house, I did set it free of course. So some very welcome signs that spring is well on it's way, looking forward to what it brings next.

Finally....

2010-03-11T14:03:00.002Z

The Snowdrops are opening, it's the first day i've managed to catch them!

Filey Brigg

2010-03-07T08:48:00.017Z

We took the kids off for a long walk around the Brigg today, with a hope for me of spotting some new birds. On the way from Leeds we saw an awful lot of Crows and Rooks nest building, some of the Crows were carrying bunches of twigs bigger than them! Even more amazing was the number of Wood Pigeons we saw on the way there and back, huge flocks of them in some cases over the fields, there seem to be more than I remember seeing before.

As we drove up to the top car park at the Carr Naze pond - Map here - three Oystercatchers flew right over the car. At the pond there were a few more and a small grey bird that I couldn't quite make out - unfortunately I couldn't get a good enough shot to try and id it later either.

We walked up the cliffs a little way seeing a few Skylarks (edit after reading up I think it may have actually been some kind of Pipit as they weren't really staying up in the air, they just dropped back down again?) shooting up in the air around us. I spotted some Kittwakes on the cliff edges and made sure we kept a tight hold of the little one up there, there are no fences along the edges!

We made our way down onto the beach then and walked right along to the end of the Brigg. The kids loved searching for shells in the rock pools and even found a couple of fossilised stones too.

I saw Turnstones and a new one for me - Redshanks, there were 5 down past the cliffs. I spotted birds out on the water but my ID skills aren't good enough to tell what they are, even with my binoculars (which aren't great). The choppy seas didn't help as the birds were bobbing up and down all over the place.

Fortunately I had some help from a nice gentleman who was out spotting the birds and he let me know I was looking at Eider ducks and showed me the male in all it's glorious black and white plumage through his scope. There were Scoters further out but I missed them! The Eider made up for that though, what a gorgeous bird.

In this picture if you look closely (with a magnifying glass!!) you can just see a Turnstone on the rock in the middle.

We spent quite a long time out here exploring everywhere and had a great time. Walking back we saw a Kestrel hovering for a long time over the cliffs and as we were leaving a Peregrine Falcon flew overhead (which I almost overlooked but thanks to the helpful guy from earlier I didn't!).

We were going to visit Filey Dams Nature Reserve, but one of the main roads was closed and there were no signs for it, we got lost and to save frayed tempers we gave it up as a bad job!

So instead after a tip on the Yorkshire thread on Birdform (thank you!) we drove onto Scarborough instead in hope of spotting some Mediterranean Gulls. I always imagine when you go to find a specific bird you have to have lots of patience and a little luck and you might see it. Not with these, they were exactly where they were supposed to be - just waiting right in the car park as we drove in along with some Black Headed Gulls.

I was very impressed, they were in various stages of plumage but the bright red beaks and leg were very distinctive. The boys were unimpressed and my little one had fallen asleep within two minutes of getting in the car! But my husband did show interest and took a few photos and we did feed them a little leftover lunch.

Of course we had to stop for chips before we left and that meant the usual Herring Gulls!

A great day despite the cold and everybody enjoyed it and I got three new lifers - 12 more to the 100!

Almost......

2010-03-04T15:04:00.003Z

There are Snowdrops popping up all over the garden now, but not one has fully opened yet! This little one has appeared on it's own in the lawn.

Hopefully over the next few days I should have lots of lovely open flowers!

Yeadon Dam

2010-02-14T09:43:00.015Z

We had a brief walk around yesterday on the way to visit my parents. It was very cold and as we were early it was pretty quiet. We felt a little bad that we hadn't brought any food for the birds as they were obviously looking at it. We got surrounded by Canada Geese and Mallards at one point all quacking furiously!

There were plenty of Black Headed Gulls on the water too.

We spotted some Tufted Ducks (or fishing ducks as my little one called them) diving under the water and watched them a while trying to spot where they would pop up next. They can certainly cover a lot of ground under the water.

Everything looked very bare but the red branches on these added colour to the landscape - I don't know what they are?

This is at the top end of the water near the airport runway.

As we walked round we saw Coots, a lone Moorhen strutting up and down, even more Gulls, a pair of Mute Swans, Crows, Magpies, and Pochards.

The Moorhen is just about visible but I was too busy trying to stop the little one from getting in mud at the same time!

Then as we were about to leave I was finally able to see a pair of birds that had been part of a group in the middle of the water (I didn't have binoculars with me), they came close enough so I could make out they were Goosander's - my best sighting of these birds. You can just about see them on these photos.

A great visit and it's always nice to visit a place that has so many memories for me.

Snowdrops

2010-02-04T14:44:00.005Z

Spotted these just peaking out under the hedge in our garden last week.

Today they are almost flowering but I think the snow over the past couple of days has put them off!

Lots of gardens around here already have flowering snowdrops even in the garden next door, I wonder why mine are taking their time!

RSPB Garden Watch

2010-02-01T14:24:00.003Z

I took part in the RSPB Garden Watch on Saturday, my second time taking part. Despite the neighbours cats hanging about I managed quite a few birds.

1 Blackbird
2 Blue Tits
2 Collard Doves
1 Dunnock
3 Goldfinch
1 Great Tit
9 House Sparrows
1 Long Tailed Tit
2 Magpies
1 Robin
5 Starlings
3 Woodpigeons

I discovered that the Woodpigeon now has a mate, they flew in together but were soon followed by a third who followed them about the gardens. The Long Tailed Tit didn't last long at all as the Blue Tit soon chased it off, it only appeared near the end of the hour so it was nice to get.

It was good to be able to just sit and watch for an hour with no distractions (my husband took the little one out while I did my hour). I saw more birds and their behaviour than I normally would. I also got a couple of additional birds to last year too.

Of course about 20 minutes later the garden was full - 3 Blackbirds, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Great tits, 6 Starlings, 2 Dunnocks, Collared Dove, Robin and a couple of Sparrows all at once - typical!

My results are submitted now and i'll be looking out for the results later on in the year.

At the Park

2010-01-28T13:43:00.012Z

We took a walk up to the local park this morning, it was cold but sunny for a change so we made the most of it. It was a great morning for the birds. They were in full singing form today, nearly every tree we passed we stopped to see who was singing!

There are some large gardens around the park and they were full with birds as we walked past, especially lots of Blue Tits and Great Tits. At the park gates there were two Robins singing loudly and a couple of Chaffinch flying about our head.

Blackbirds were everywhere, turning over leaves and running in and out of bushes. We saw one checking out this nest.

We spotted a Greenfinch and lots of Magpies in the trees. Someone has been hanging fat balls on the trees in the middle of the park. It would be nice to have a feeding station here I think. The park really takes on a different look with all the bare trees!

We had to stop for the swings of course and all around this area were Mistle Thrush. I counted 7 sat at the top of one tree along with 3 Magpies. Every now and then they would fly together to the next tree top. A couple of Magpies appeared to have paired up and one of them was flying about with a twig in its mouth - maybe a little nest building?

One sat on a tree next to the play area, I managed to get a couple of photos before it was scared off.

My little one insisted on a photo of the spiky flowers!

Then she found this with about half a dozen flowers on it.

As we left the park we saw this pile of fungus, not quite as pretty as some we've seen!!

It was a beautiful morning despite the cold, we saw so many birds and it just lovely to hear all the birds singing every where we went.

Our Garden in the New Year

2010-01-17T10:48:00.004Z

Finally the snow has just about disappeared over the weekend. It's certainly brought a lot of birds into the garden since the 1st January but it will be nice to be able to go out without boots on!

So my garden list is almost as long as the final list for last year already. I've had the largest number of Greenfinch yet - 4, as these birds are usually infrequent visitors to the garden and then at the most a pair that has been good to see.

A Woodpigeon has started to visit again, the first since summer last year. There have been a few fleeting visits from the Long Tailed Tits but the Coal Tits haven't been since the middle of December.

Despite reports of Redwings and Fieldfares visiting people's garden during the snow I have yet to see either around here, I have had a Mistle Thrush a couple of times but it would be nice to see the others in the garden!

1. Blackbird

2. Blue Tit

3. Carrion Crow

4. Chaffinch

5. Collard Dove

6. Dunnock

7. Goldfinch

8. Great Tit

9. Greenfinch

10. Herring Gull (flyover)

11. House Sparrow

12. Long Tailed Tit

13. Magpie

14. Mistle Thrush

15. Pigeon (flyover)

16. Robin

17. Starling

18. Woodpigeon

19. Wren

The garden doesn't look quite so pretty now without the snow and there is a lot of spilled seed to clean up too!

The next door neighbours cat has been scaring off the birds today, it's been very quiet in the garden!

Hopefully now the weather is improving we'll be able to get out and about more and work on spotting some more birds and try and take my list up to 100.

Snowed In

2010-01-05T14:21:00.010Z

Yet more snow here in Leeds, the worst yet, having to rely on buses to get to work meant a day home for me after the bus got stuck!

So I cleaned off the feeders and topped them up putting some seed on top of the shed too. The Blackbirds and Dunnocks have been feeding of there.

I've just had a record four Greenfinch on the feeders, the most i've had in the garden before is two and that was on New Years Day. The Greenfinch are striking against the snow. There have been a dozen Goldfinch, a Robin, Starlings, House Sparrows, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Collared Doves, a Woodpigeon and a Wren. There is constant activity out there and it's great to watch.

Here are a few photos from out and about today. You can just about make out one of the Greenfinch on the last one.

New Year & a New Lifer at Fairburn Ings!!

2010-01-02T20:21:00.015Z

Well back again after an almost internet free week over the holidays. I say almost, there were a couple of sites I couldn't not look at! I don't know what i'd do without the internet to hand - how did we manage before!

Anyway today we headed up to Fairburn Ings, we didn't get there until after two so we didn't have a great deal of time to wonder about. It was a pretty dull day too so the photos I did get are pretty dark.

We watched the birds at the feeders by the visitor centre. Straight away seeing Chaffinch, a gorgeous Bullfinch, three Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Dunnock. Food had been place on various tree stumps on the way to the Pick Up Hide. This made for great viewing of more Chaffinch and Great Tits.

Now just a note about walking round here in the snow - there are a lot of warning signs up about how icy the paths are - they aren't wrong! I had on pretty good walking shoes that I wear a lot in this weather. I still managed to hit the deck after slipping on some hidden ice under a thin layer of snow, to be fair I was looking up in the trees and not watching where I was going at the time! My shoulder and hip took the brunt of the fall and all I can say now is ouch i'm starting to feel it! So just beware if you are visiting and make sure you stop to look up!

The lakes and ponds were pretty much frozen solid all around with just a few watery patches round the edges. At the Pick Up Hide there was only the odd Magpie flying across. It did look pretty nice though.

Onto to the next lot of feeders, which are viewed through a boarded fence with holes at various heights so my daughter had no problem looking at all the birds. Again Chaffinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robin, Blackbird, Dunnocks and this time Long Tailed Tits too. I suddenly realised that the Sparrows on the feeders where actually Tree Sparrows and not my usual House Sparrows. I was very pleased with seeing those as it's the best viewing i've had that I can remember. Here are some not so great photos.

We spent quite a while here as there was quite a lot of activity and it was great to watch. We carefully walked up as the dipping pond, which was of course frozen too. We didn't walk down to it - didn't want to risk falling again.

We stopped at the kingfisher viewing point where someone very nicely pointed out a Kingfisher in the distance, we only got a brief flash of orange before it was off. We started to walk around but didn't make it as far as the Bob Dickens hide, it was too icy and it was getting late.

Hubby did take a nice photo of a Teasel though!

We saw a Peregrine Falcon fly over our heads and hover over the lake, no chance of any kind of photo but here is the lake!

We also spotted some footprints on one of the icy streams, which my little one loves, she has a thing about footprints. We think they were rabbit but feel free to let me know otherwise

As we got near to the Kingfisher stream I was lagging behind trying to keep upright. There is a path off to the right before the stream, which has a gate across and a deer went bounding across - I was pretty excited as it's the closest i've been to one in the wild. Unfortunately by the time hubby and the little one came back it had gone into the bushes. A Roe Deer in the snow, pretty good to see.

As we walked over the boardwalk back to the visitor centre my daughter stopped and pointed out a Blackbird just sat on the ground at the side of the boardwalk. It followed along the walk with us to the end before flying off.

We decided to walk down to the end of the jetty by the car park and were almost set upon by a group of Mallards obviously looking for food. There were Mute Swans, Coots and Moorhens. A group of Gulls on the ice looked to be Black Headed Gulls in their winter plumage, I hope I id'd those correctly, you can't tell too well from the picture but after checking my guide I am pretty sure.

As we stood and watched the birds I saw something fly out from underneath the jetty and off towards the reeds at the right going through the wire fencing. It was a Water Rail - this is my first lifer of 2010 and there was no doubt today after suspecting I saw one at Adel Dam last year. It hung around in the reeds a while and popped in and out giving us some pretty good views. Unfortunately not even a bad photo of it as it was too dark and too far away for the camera.

A very nice end to our little trip and a good start to 2010!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T22:13:00.002Z

Merry Christmas to all, I hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday!

Hopefully in the new year i'll be back to posting a bit more.

First Snow of the Winter

2009-12-17T20:36:00.004Z

I know it's not a lot, not here anyway, but it's always nice to see (especially so close to Christmas). I made sure my feeders were all topped up today so there is plenty of food for the birds.

There have been a few in the garden today. A pair of Collared Doves have taken up residence and have been in sight every time I looked out of the window. Plenty of House Sparrows too and the Goldfinch are as noisy as ever squabbling over the seeds.

Blue Tits and Great Tits have been regular visitors and the odd Coal Tit too, though the Blue Tits chase them off pretty sharpish. I've seen my first Long Tailed Tits of the winter too. Dunnock numbers have gone up to four at times and Magpies and Blackbirds are also around often.

The Robin is often the first bird at the feeders in a morning usually before it even gets daylight properly. Today it was the last bird in the garden and there is just something so nice to see a Robin against a snowy backdrop!

Hopefully we will sneak in a walk around Yeadon Tarn on Saturday amongst the mad Christmas rushing about we will be doing. So may have more to post soon.

A Garden Update

2009-12-01T11:04:00.003Z

Well I have not been out much of anywhere recently, Christmas has taken over and i've been shopping for England! On the birding front I did see a very lovely Pied Wagtail outside the entrance to the White Rose Shopping Centre.

The garden however has been bird central. Plenty of Starlings, Goldfinch and House Sparrows. Then in lesser numbers Dunnocks, Blue Tits, and Collared Doves. The Blue Tits have grown to three on a regular basis though the Coal Tit pair haven't been around much at all. There is a lone Great Tit visiting and a Robin, who is getting very brave and is happy in the garden when i'm out too.

Our squirrel has still been around and along with two Magpies has been polishing off the peanuts.

We've also had our first sighting of Long Tailed Tits since last winter when a pair flitted around the bushes for a while at the end of last week.

The posts may be a bit sparse over the next month or so as we have so much going on but I will try my best to get the family out for a brisk walk one lovely frosty morning!

Our Favourite Little Spot

2009-11-16T21:34:00.014Z

Oakwell Hall has fast become our favourite place for a walk, it's so close by and just the right walk so my little one doesn't completely wipe out! Yesterday we took advantage of the sun and headed over there.

It's quite a difference now of course with most of the trees bare of their leaves.

This is the same shot of the photo at the top of this post - big difference!

The birds were a bit scarce but it was mid afternoon and quite busy. We did see Long Tailed Tits, Goldfinch, Robins, Blackbirds, Crows, Magpies and Blue Tits.

This Gorse bush was in full bloom and looked quite striking.

This walkway doesn't have quite the same impact with the bare branches.

We came across a fair bit of fungi, which is fast becoming a favourite to hunt out - weird I know, who'd have thought i'd have such a liking for fungus!! I was very excited when my stepson spotted these Fly Agaric, an iconic fungi, which i've never actually seen before in the 'flesh'.

Of course then we saw quite a few dotted about. There were plenty of others too including these tiny little ones on a lot of tree stumps - no idea what they are though. It's not the greatest picture but if anyone has ideas?

We saw plenty of others too and though I keep forgetting I will get a guide and try and id these - it will be nice to put a name to what we see!

Thought i'd end with this giant leaf we discovered, which is next to my hubby size ten foot for a guide. I'm ashamed to say that I only think it's a Sycamore leaf and really I should know exactly what it is!

Squirrel

2009-11-15T20:31:00.006Z

Our squirrel has become quite a regular over the past couple of weeks. This week when I went out to top up the feeders I discovered he had not been happy at the lack of nuts on the tray!!

He's decided to have a go at the plastic instead! So now I'm making sure there are plenty of nuts on the tray, which is also pleasing the Blue Tits and a Magpie too. The Magpie fills his beak with a row of nuts and then flies off to elsewhere to eat them.

The garden is keeping busy with lots of birds and no sign of the Sparrowhawk again. The Coal Tits are visiting every day that I see my garden (don't always get to see it in daylight these days!), there have been up to three now and again. The regulars - Goldfinch, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, House Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds, Collared Doves - are being joined by the odd Great Tit and a Robin, which has started to appear a lot more too.

We had a Wren in the garden for a while last Sunday, it even managed to cling to the patio doors for a while so we had an amazing view of this beautiful little bird. I've had my first sighting in many months of Mistle Thrushes in the garden when a pair landed in the tree briefly last week.

So as usual with the weather getting worse, it gets better for seeing the garden birds!

Rain

2009-11-01T11:02:00.003Z

What a day today, torrential rain and strong winds. We were going to pay a visit to Adel Dam today but decided against going anywhere! The rain has brought out many garden birds though and the garden has been non stop all morning.

There are 9 Collared Doves sat in the tree right now looking very bedraggled. We have had about a dozen Goldfinch too. House Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds, Blue Tits and a Dunnock have been around too. A lone Magpie has been sat in the tree but can't quite bring itself to come down for the bread. They often perch in the trees but i've rarely seen them in the garden.

Earlier in the week we went over to Blackpool - purely a touristy visit but I did manage to get a couple of pictures of the large flocks of Starlings flying about over the pier.