White Wagtail

White Wagtail following the cows on Borrow Pits along with a Yellow Wagtail

BlueThroat

Superb male down near the point , definately the best we have ever seen in full colour plumage.

Short Eared Owl

Just as dinner was calling I came out of the hide to find this Shorteared Owl over the Borrow Pits. Perfect timing eh ?

New Hide

Managed to take this picture showing part of the newly developed area at the top of Beacon Ponds showing the new hide. Ten minutes later the mist came in and you couldnt see a thing.The ponds are starting to fill so look forward to possible waders taking advantage of them

Merlin

We had been looking for about three days for the Merlin and spotted him half way up Beacon Lane.Apparantly this is one of his favourite posts for looking for dinner

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Just walking by Kew and heard a loud irritated call . Trapped in the Mist Net and just time to take a picture. Cheers Paul

Looking for Mates

Just a few pictures from last week of birds singing and looking for parners including Dunnock , Linnet , Meadow Pipit , Reed Bunting , Wheatear and finally Yellow Hammers that appear to have paired up

Blackredstart

This is our first Redstart of the yearand were fortunateto have have seen it first in the field and then to have had it in the hand due to a few meally worms and acunning Barry Spence

Short Eared Owl

We had three Short Eared Owl flying over the Triangle yesterday but have had none at all today. Great to watch as they hunt the area .

Red Kite

Just a bit of poetic licence with this Red Kite as the original was not the best of quality . I think it looks quite  good

Treecreeper

Once again lucky to see this Creeper close to the footpath on the way down to the small bridge. Heard Greatspotted woodpecker drumming very close at the same time but it didnt show itself

Crossbill

Went up to The Giants Tooth today and was lucky to just catch this male before it flew off towards the Plantation. Its a shame you cant get very close to them as they are very flighty birds

Goldeneye

Male and female Goldeneye on the reservoir today but tending to keep their distance.

Ogden Water

A cracking male Goldeneye on the reservoir was a nice sight and followed up with a quick visit of a Tree creeper .

kingfisher

Thought I would put a few more of the Kingfisher on as she was so obliging and also because its not very often you can get so lucky

Redpol

One of four Redpol seen down at Cromwell Bottom which have been around for about two weeks now.

Cromwell Bottom

Great views of the Kingfisher along the Canal Path going towards Elland

Snow Bunting

After seeing the Calderdale Blog and pictures of the Snow Bunting we decided to go up and see if they were still around. After walking around for about 15 minutes one was spotted  in the longish grass to the right of the mast by a couple of bird watchers . We had heard the call a few times earlier but were pleased to see this one down to about 20 feet away. 

The first of the year

A bird we always love to see is the Waxwing. This one was at the back of Kew but disappeared after about 5 minutes. That was all we needed

Snow Bunting

They had been flying overhead for a few days and then we spotted some on the New Rocks down on the Humber.Two days later a flock of about 25  flew south

Robin

Yes I know , there are millions of them. I just  couldnt leave them out. New colours and cockey as hell , just had to put them on

Pied Wheatear

Another lifer for us was this Pied Wheatear which favoured the beach area but landed on the Lifeboat rooftop for us to get a quick picture  before it returned to its prefered area

Pied Flycatcher

Very accomodating and very tolerent to our presence we spent about 15 minutes watching this Flycatcher around the Church . A cracker