Ogden Water Walk

   Went for a walk around Ogden Water in inclement
   weather hoping to see the male Mandarin Duck that
   had been seen in the morning but did nit see it with
   the naked eye, but after looking through my pics it
   was there very distant swimming with a gull.
   First bird to be seen was a Dunnock that got so close
   I could've fed it and then close by a Treecreeper made
   a show which are always great to see, I had no joy with
   the Kingfisher down by the water works which was a
   bit of a downer, higher up in the woods were a couple
   of Jays collecting moss off of the trees.

  I then went to my favourite Goldcrest spot and guess
  what ? nothing at all, a bird was heard chirping but
  couldn't make out the call, a Great Tit flew out in front
  of me and Lapwing were peewitting over the golf course,
  on the lake were the usual species with one very light
  coloured Drake Mallard, so not very much to see but
  still an enjoyable walk.

  Garden had 8 Goldfinch, 2 Bullfinch and 2 Greenfinch.

Castle Carr rd zilch

    Garden was busy this morning with Goldfinch, Dunnock,
    Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Blue & Great Tit,
    Jackdaw, Magpie, Crow and pigeon, amazing what a bit
    of sunshine does for them.

    I then went up to Castle Carr Rd where it was freezing
    and nothing much about at all, 12ish Golden Plover in
    a field but scarpered as soon as I got there and that was
    it apart from the scenery.

 

 

Must be Mad

   I went for a venture up Ringby lane in the afternoon,
   cold windy and the weather couldn't make its mind up
   what to do , also not much to see so my hopes of
   Snow Bunting were dashed, 3 Meadow Pipits,
   4 Stock Dove, lots of crows and a poss Raven.
   Next stop was Soil Hill and same again not a lot
   to see poss Sparrowhawk or Peregrine flew past

   at a distance, 3 Roe Deer were seen on my way to
   Soil Hill and a Little John was seen lol, not seen him
   for ages

   We both decided we must be mad out birding in this
    weather.

 

Long Eared Owl - Halifax

 Took a trip out Thursday evening to various places
 looking for some Barn Owls and had no joy, but I
 did come across a beauty after a heads up from DS.
 A Long Eared Owl posing like a Prima Donna on a
 fence post, she also flew just in front of me half an
 hour later, I was well chuffed and it made the venture
 out well worthwhile, a few skylark were seen and a
 largish Blackbird with white chest flew 50 yards in
 front of me, all I could think of was Ring Ouzel but
 it was so dark it could of been anything.

 Garden was busy with Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch
 and Greenfinch, Dunnocks and Robins and lots of gulls
 over back field.

Firecrest at Rodley

 First time out for a few months what with injuries and other things
 going on but decided on a trip to Rodley Nature Reserve hoping to see
 the Firecrest that had been seen a few weeks ago as Ive only ever seen
 one and that was while I was on my postal round, and the Black Swan.

 Got out of the car and lo and behold within 5 minutes there was the
 Firecrest right in front of me, camera not prepared and on wrong settings
 and lighting was appalling but it was still great to see it so close and
 then as I looked above the Black Swan was swanning off to pastures new.
 so it was quite fruitful in the first half hour, the Firecrest showed up 3
 more times but always while I was alone, when the crowds showed up
 it seemed to disappear.

 Treecreeper, Wren, Little Grebe, Goldcrest, LTT, Gadwall, Moorhen,
  Blue & Great Tit, Coot, Cormorant, Pink-Footed, Greylag, and Canada
 Geese, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Redwing were at a distance, Robin,
  Dunnock, Blackbird, Tufted Duck, Teal, Grey Heron, Greenfinch,
 Bullfinch, Dunnock and Reed Bunting were seen by me but I missed
 out on the Barn Owl that was seen earlier in the morning.

  Cromwell Bottom was very quiet with only the usual birds being seen
  though Mike H had seen some Siskin and a couple of Goldcrest all I got
  were 6 Goldfinch up on the meadow but was nice bumping into him, also
  nice to bump into Chris T, Peter H, Jan and Paul up at Rodley.