Chicks,Cygnets & Goslings 2014

Its been another one of those dull wet days so we decided to give going out birding a miss today.All was not lost though, our bird feeders usually encourage a few into the garden for me to see & as I was filling them this morning I saw a Treecreeper at the bottom of the garden, a good garden tick.When I went back into the house a LT Tit was my first customer then a couple of Jays arrived in the tree tops, so not too bad.
 Anyway to brighten things up I thought I'd have a look back at some of the successful breeding from local birds this year.These pictures were taken at Redcar Tarn,Yeadon Tarn,Park Dam & Dowley Gap but other locations also had a successful year.

Coot chick

Coot feeding its chicks

Mute Swan Cygnet

Cygnets with proud parents

Greylag Gosling

Goslings with parents

Mallard with chicks

Moorhen with chick

Gt Crested Grebe & chicks

Muscovy with chicks

Harold Park & Park Dam

Saturday 20th December a.m.
 We started the day off with a visit to Mixenden Reservoir where I was able to get my first view of the Great Northern Diver,as expected the Whoopers had departed.We headed off to the Southern side of Bradford in the Low Moor area where Harold Park & Park Dam are situated.
Harold Park
When we arrived it was cloudy with a temperature of 6°C, we were greeted with a Cormorant circling the lake & landing for a while.There was also plenty of activity under the trees with a mixed flock of birds flitting about & on the ground Blackbirds,Chaffinch & a couple of Redwings were turning the fallen leaves over looking for food.Amongst the flock of birds were LT Tits which was good to see & a first for us at this location.On the water there were the usual suspects with a couple of Gt Crested Grebes under the trees.

Redwing

Harold Park List

Redwing well camouflaged among the fallen leaves

Long-tailed Tit

 Park Dam
We travelled the short distance down to Park Dam where there were some sunny spells but one heavy shower had us retreating for cover among some trees.Here we saw a flock of 10 Redwings land in a distant tree before moving on.After the shower passed we went back to the lake where the Cormorants were on the pylons again, one of them did a couple of circuits of the area before flying off.The usual selection of birds were present with the addition of a couple of Goosanders but we didn't spot the Gadwall seen by NK yesterday.

Park Dam List

Cormorant on Pylon

Doing a circuit of the lake

Gulls

common Gull

Gt Crested Grebe

Tufted Ducks

Park Dam 20/12/14

Mixenden GND

Wednesday 17th December a.m.
 A poor day with a blustery wind blowing drizzle with low cloud & a temperature of 9°C.After seeing the local reports of a Great Northern Diver at Mixenden Reservoir found by DJS from Calerdale Birds the chance came today for my dad to go & see it.The conditions were poor but this being only our second sighting of this rare visitor to our local reservoirs it was worth it to see this Diver, pictures not too bad considering the conditions.

Great Northern Diver

GND at Mixenden 17/12/14

A Dull Sunday but another look at Yeadon Tarn

A dull day today with rain much of the day but good to see a pair of Bullfinch on the garden feeders & a Jay in a nearby tree.We didn't venture out anywhere so here are a few more snaps from Yesterday where the Drake Goldeneye was the star at Yeadon Tarn.

Drake Goldeneye

male Goosander displaying

female Goosander

male Bullfinch

BH Gull on the ice

A Great little Goldeneye

Yeadon Tarn 13/12/14

Yeadon Tarn Goldeneye

Saturday 13th December a.m.
 A keen over night frost with the temperature well below zero, but a bright sunny start & the temperature was up to 0°C when we arrived at Yeadon Tarn.The paths had patches of bottle ice so we had to be careful as we walked round the Tarn.Some of the water in the Tarn also was covered in ice with some Mallards doing ice skating along with BH Gulls.A record number of 25 Goosanders for us with the males doing some displaying.Some of the females were very low in the water which we have not seen before, we thought this might be part of the courtship.
 One of the Mute Swans was also in a boisterous mood seeing off one of the other Swans, also plenty House Sparrows around but just one Pochard which was dosing. After a full circuit we stopped to watch some of the birds being fed, there were several Tufteds diving then up popped a drake Goldeneye. This was a surprise & a great thrill being our first of the Winter, these dabbling Ducks are certainly one of my favourites.This sent us off back to the car with a spring in our step & here we had another bonus as a male Bullfinch was feeding in a nearby tree.

Drake Goldeneye

Yeadon Tarn List

male Bullfinch

House Sparrow

Mute Swan on the charge

BH Gull on the ice

male Goosander

female Goosander

Female low in the water near the male

Great to see a Goldeneye back on the Tarn

Yeadon Tarn 13/12/14