January 2012
3 posts
Way out West
Today I had a trip out for a few dirty twitches round West Yorkshire to look for some of the good birds that have been hanging round and that I haven’t had time to go and see yet.
We started at Sands Lane GP near Mirfield to look for the ring-billed gull that’s been there recently, but there was no signs of it, despite our attempts to turn the common gulls into one. There were a...
Norfolk
I’ve not posted here for a while, have I? That’s because most of my birding has been on patch, the exploits of which can be found at http://wharncliffewildlife.wordpress.com. However yesterday I made an exception, and had a dirty day’s twitching in Norfolk. I stayed at a relative’s house in Leeds, and got picked up at the ungodly hour of 4.50am by Keith, Ken and Rob, getting a singing robin as my...
September 2011
3 posts
Kilnsea
I had a great day out today at Kilnsea and Spurn. The weather forecast was gloomy and I wasn’t expecting much, but we escaped the rain (bar one very brief but heavy shower), and saw a great selection of species.
Things were relatively quiet out to sea, but we still managed to pick up several flocks of common scoter and a flock of eider, plus the odd sandwich tern, guillemot, gannet and...
Skua Cruise 2011
This weekend I had my annual pilgrimage to Flamborough and Brid for the Skua and Shearwater Cruise.
I arrived on Saturday lunchtime, and made it up to Flamborough in time to learn I’d just missed a buff-breasted sandpiper at Thornwick Bay! Ah well! I met up with fellow birder Jason, and had a very pleasant afternoon, although it has to be said that it was a very quiet day indeed bird-wise....
Wharncliffe Wildlife →
You may think I’ve been pretty quiet of late, and you’d be right! But I have been out and about, mainly patch-watching in the local area in Wharncliffe and Grenoside.
The area’s well-watched by other birders, and I’ve joined forces with three of them - Dave Woodriff, Andy Hill and Dave Simmonite - to create a multi-author blog to show off our sightings and photos. This...
August 2011
1 post
A long time coming...
Whoops, it’s really been a while since I last posted, hasn’t it? One of the main reasons is late in June I went over on my ankle while walking on the Chase. This wasn’t a very dramatic injury, but I really didn’t look after it. I basically ignored I’d sprained it, and a mixture of a trip to London with obligatory tourist-style wandering, an all-day music festival,...
June 2011
5 posts
A quail!
Last weekend I had a trip to Orgreave Lakes, getting the usual species I expected including common tern, ringed plover, redshank and oystercatcher, as well as hundreds of swifts. While walking around the lakes I heard what I was sure was a brief snippet of a calling quail, and eventually tracked the bird down to a grassy area on the hillside west of the small lake, where it called a again for a...
May 2011
6 posts
A stint at Hatfield...
I haven’t got a huge lifelist, but it’s got to the stage now where new birds are pretty few and far between, and the times when I could easily get 30-odd lifers a year is, unless I start twitching a lot more, over. However yesterday I managed to get two lifers in one day, which wasn’t bad seeing as I wasn’t really expecting either of them!
The first was least expected,...
April 2011
6 posts
Grindleford - Dore
Today I had a great walk from Grindleford to Dore, taking in some hotspots for some local specialities. We started at Padley Gorge, where pied flycatcher and redstart were the targets, and both were found with little fuss. From there we followed Burbage Brook through Lawrence Field, where whinchat was a surprisingly easy find, and from there to Burbage Valley, where ring ouzel were the target....
2011 migrants part 2...
The month’s crept on, and the migrants have kept coming.
On the 11th April, I got my first redstart of the year, at Agden Rocher - a nice consolation for a no-show from a great grey shrike that had been lurking in the area! (The photo below was my second, at Wharncliffe Chase, on 17th).
On the 16th I had a very productive trip to Carr Vale, getting the first yellow wagtail, common...
Takes all sorts
Just got this comment on one of my posts: “My son recommended your blog. I thought it was going to be about picking up lasses on West Street after a few beers but now I see it is ornithological. I guess it takes all sorts.”
Oh my aching sides. Never heard that one before!
Hatfield Moors
Some pics from Hatfield Moor on Saturday
Adder
Black-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Yellowhammer
Grey Partridge
Green Tiger Beetles
Redpoll (I had this down as a Mealy contender in the field, but on checking the photos have come to the conclusion it’s probably a pale Lesser).
Other sightings that didn’t make the camera included little ring plover, and lots of...
2011 Migrants so far...
I love this time of year - every day new birds arrive, and in the last few days everywhere seems alive with migrants, with many more species yet to arrive.
My first migrant, as always, was a singing chiffchaff on 22nd March, although obviously it’s always hard to tell with this species whether it’s a true migrant, or an overwintering individual. This one was at Ponderosa; in previous...
March 2011
1 post
Sorry!
Blimey, I’ve been neglecting this blog a little bit, haven’t I?! If truth be told I got a bit sucked in posting a photo a day on Blipfoto, (see here). But I really shouldn’t leave it this long between posts on here, sorry!
In the last month I’ve mainly kept myself busy patching, both at lunchtimes around work, and in my tetrads around Grenoside. I must admit my “only...
February 2011
2 posts
Pennybun's Blipfoto →
Sheffield-based all-round naturewatcher Chris Kelly, aka Penny Bun, has set herself a challenge to take a photo of a different species of bird every day. She’s kept at it since 14th Jan, and has some really nice shots that include some good species such as waxwing, great northern diver, brambling and kingfisher. It’ll be interesting to see how far she gets before she starts having to...
Club Med
On Sunday afternoon I braved the gales and took a rather long walk from Grenoside to Broomhead Reservoir to have a squint through the gull roost. The windy conditions meant the walk down was very uneventful indeed, with pretty much the only notables being a small mixed flock of siskin and lesser redpoll in Wharncliffe Wood, although the advantage of the bird-free walk was at least I managed to...
January 2011
5 posts
Mealy. Really?!
This morning me and my mate Andy took the bus up to Ulley Reservoir for one of the trickier birding challenges, which is redpoll ID, specifically looking for some of then mealy redpolls that had been recently reported hanging around the reservoir’s flock of lessers.
We got there just after 9am, and got straight on to a rather handsome male brambling on the feeders. Sadly the lighting was...
Lots and lots in Notts...
Today I went on (would you believe?) my first non-patch birding excursion of the year, and had a trip over the border into Nottinghamshire. The first port of call was Clumber Park, where the target of the day was hawfinch. We got on to one by the Chapel very quickly, giving brief views, and after a short walk connected with one which gave good views as it perched on the edge of a tree. After a...
A (late) retrospective
Not too much to report really, at the weekend I further explored SK38C and H, my two tetrads that make up my self-imposed patch. I only managed one new addition for the year - a mistle thrush - but discovered a few new parts to have a poke around in the farmland east of Wharncliffe Chase. Although I’m not racking up the ticks at the moment, I’m makling mental notes where to keep my...
To year list or not to year list...
Sorry I’ve not updated for a while, as always the new year’s brought renewed birding vigour with it and so normal service should be resumed.
The big issue I was debating with myself for 2011 was whether or not to keep a year list. This has been something I’ve done without question for the last few years, but as 2010 ended I was starting to wonder if I needed a break from it....
December 2010
4 posts
Bolehill, Orgreave and Catcliffe
On Saturday me and my occasional birding buddy Andy went up to Bolehill Flash to look for jack snipe, a “bogey” bird for both of us. After much squinting into undergrowth, none were apparent, but we racked up a decent list of species up there that included hunting sparrowhawk and buzzard, lots of redwing and a handful of fieldfare (is it me or are the latter harder to find this year?),...
November 2010
8 posts
Rambling for a brambling...
On Saturday I braved the cold spell and trudged up to Wheata Wood for a wintry walk. My mission was to squint through the mixed feeding flock of finches and buntings to find a brambling or two. It was easy to find the flock in its usual place, flitting between the woodland edge and the adjacent fields and dry stone walls.
As before the main species was chaffinch, of which there were probably...
WatchThis lunchtime I got a text from my mate Andy saying he’d found a flock of 110+ waxwings on Hanover Way, I went and joined him just in time to see them scarper our heads in a spectacular trilling flypast. We followed them back to Cemetery Avenue, where they spent some time scoffing berries, joining with another flock and reaching about 200 or so in number.
I borrowed a camcorder from work...
Three mornings on patch
I did three mornings in a row on the new patch last weekend. On Friday I had the day off work to wait for a BT engineer and some furniture (ah the joys of house moves…) but they weren’t scheduled to be here until after 12, so I got a morning to have a wander.
Nothing particularly unusual jumped out at me in Wheata Wood or Wharncliffe Wood, bar the now regular sightings of the likes of...
Waxwings at last!
I managed to duck the showers this lunchtime and, apart from one brief splatter, managed to make the walk back to Ecclesall Road to look for the waxwings without getting wet. After a few laps of Cemetery Avenue I finally came across a flock of 20 or so in the tops of the trees, which were very jittery and didn’t stay long. Five arrived back after a while and loitered in a tall tree on...
Still patchin'...
This weekend there’s been a particularly interesting great grey shrike at Blacka Moor, waxwings all over the place, some obliging Lapland buntings at Orgreave Lagoons and a red-crested pochard at Catcliffe Flash. These would have been a bunch of cracking yearticks (and one lifer…) just a bus ride or two away. But somehow I was content continuing to explore the new patch, spending...
New Patch
Sorry I’ve been quiet of late, I’ve got through the other side of house-moving, and have already had a couple of trips down to my new local patches of Greno Woods, Wheata Woods, Wharncliffe Wood and Wharncliffe Chase. I’m not sure exactly where I’m going to set my patch “boundaries”, but I’ll have a clearer idea after a few more explores!
My first trip...
October 2010
8 posts
Moscar to Lodge Moor
This morning I had a break from packing for a bit and decided to go for a walk. Laura was visiting a friend in Manchester, so I got a lift to Moscar on her way, and walked from there to Lodge Moor via Stanage and Redmires. Sadly the weather was pretty lousy, punctuated by one nice sunny spell, when I managed the photo above!
Stanage was its usual bleak self, and the rain meant nothing...
Dips and Dippers...
Oh dear, I’ve been quiet of late, haven’t I? The house move is tumbling on, and that and a few other bits and bobs I’ve been doing has meant I’ve not had a lot of time to go out and see anything interesting, and no time to write about it when I do…
The weekend before last I decided to have a big birding blowout before I started getting stuck in to packing, thinking...
A twitchin' and a dippin'
Yesterday I had a trip to Spurn, which turned into a bit of a day of twitching and dipping…
On the way we decided to have a slight detour, and have a look at the American golden plover at Great Heck. There’s a flood in a field there that has attracted a large grouping of birds, including black-headed and common gulls, lapwing and a couple of hundred (European) golden plovers - among...
Rain and Rustics
A very very wet day on the East Coast today with the SBSG (if it wasn’t a planned trip I wouldn’t have gone based on the weather forecast!), but a good time had despite the depressing downpour.
First stop Filey for the Wryneck. The weather at this point was the worst it was all day, and predictably we failed to find the bird, despite finding the bush where it was supposed to hang out....
Seeing in October...
My first proper walk in October and a good one! I walked from Bradfield, to Broomhead Res, and back, taking in Agden Rocher, and checking Cowell Flat, Walker Edge, White Lee Moor, Spout House Hill, West Nab - plenty of nooks and crannies where there were plenty of birds to be found.
A good count of 41 species seen on the walk, the highlights including llttle owl, wheatear, raven, common buzzard,...