Harold Park

Sunday 15th May a.m.
A cloudy morning to start with but the sun came out during our visit to Harold Park with a temperature of 8°C.The usual species were at the lake this morning the Mute Swan had a Red tag number Y725.Good to see Coot chicks,Mallard chicks and Canada goslings, it was good to see the Great Crested Grebes, one of them coming for bread as someone fed the ducks.This is unusual for the Grebes here maybe suggesting their normal food source is not as plentiful as in the past.It was also good to see four Swifts flying above, we paid a quick visit to Park Dam which was very quiet.

Great Crested Grebe

Mute Swan

Tufted Duck

Coot

Coot feeding its chick

Coot chick

Canadas with goslings

Canada Goslings

Harold Park Pond

Harold Park Lake

Swillington Ings

Saturday 14th May a.m.
Another trip to Swillington Ings where it was a bit cool in the breeze at just 8°C but we made the most of the sunny spells.Again we had a good morning seeing the variety of birds here including Avocet,,Black-necked Grebe,Buzzard,Bittern booming,Common Tern,Gadwall,Reed Warbler,Sedge Warbler,Whitethroat to mention just a few.There were c200 Swifts overhead along with House & Sand Martins plus Swallow.A good number of Linnets and Reed Buntings were seen and what we thought was a Reed Warbler in some Gorse but looking at the picture we started thinking Garden Warbler?Anyway here are our snaps of some of the many birds seed at this excellent location.

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler or maybe Garden?

Avocet

Black-necked Grebe

Buzzards

Common Tern

Linnet

LT Tit

Pochard

Reed Bunting

Shelduck

Whitethroat

Sedge Warbler giving us a tune

Swillington Ings 14/5/2016

Cullingworth Dipper Day

Friday 13th May a.m.
 A cool start at just 8°C with cloud over head but my spirits soon rose as I saw House Martins over the village as I set off on my walk.We also saw Swifts over the village earlier in the week so the full set of summer birds seem to have returned to the local area now.Some common species were seen through the village and on the path to the Great Northern Trail a GSW flew away.Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff & a Blackcap were all present and three Swifts were over the viaduct.The reservoir looked deserted so I took a different route under the viaduct and followed Hewenden Beck.The camera had seen very little action so far only a Greenfinch and a Song Thrush had made their presence felt.Along the banks of the Beck the Bluebells were out with their scent filling the air, a few pictures were in order here.Then I spotted a Dipper down stream and got a couple of poor pictures before it flew off.I soon caught up with it along with a second bird but was unable to get a decent picture as they moved around.
 Further along the now Hallas Beck I caught up with another Dipper this one had a Juvenile with it which was begging for food.Here I was able to watch the Dippers for a good ten minutes as the Juvenile kept pestering the adult for food.The adult seemed to be tempting the juvenile into the water to teach it to catch some food, but the youngster was having none of it and waited until the adult finally caught it some food.It was great to watch them and of course get a few pictures for Danny's blog.N.P.

Dipper

Dipper Juvenile

Juvenile begging for food

Hallas Beck

Hewenden Beck Bluebells 13/5/2016

Harden Moor

Thursday 12th May a.m.
 A decent morning with a temperature of 11°C and some sunshine to bring the warblers out stating with Whitethroat,the usual Willows and the bonus of a couple of Garden Warblers.A good surprise when I walked along the path was to see an Oystercatcher in front of me, not seen one on Harden Moor before.The Sand Martins and Little Owl were in their usual spot and others seen were Bullfinch,Redpoll & Kestrel.The highlight though at this time of year is hearing the sound of the Cuckoo and getting a few views as it moved around.I heard it at one point as I was on a path through some trees and just before I came out into the open I saw the Cuckoo and was able to get a couple of pictures through the branches.N.P.

Whitethroat

Cuckoo

Garden Warbler

Oystercatcher

Lesser Redpoll

Cuckoo on Harden Moor 12/5/2016