Rodley Nature Reserve

Sunday 31st July a.m.
  After our visit to Yeadon Tarn we moved to Rodley Nature Reserve, the temperature
was now up to 18°C. The highlight of our visit here was a Little Egret amongst the Grey
Herons and Ducks. We also saw a pair of Common Terns with a couple of chicks and there
were Little Grebe again we saw a chick on a distant nest as well as Mute Swans with Signets.
A couple of Cormorants flew over and there were some Gadwall Ducks.
An enjoyable morning birding here in the warm weather.
30 - Mallards
20 - BH Gulls
10 - Grey Heron
10 - Swift
8 - Coot
6 - Mute Swans plus 6 Signets
4 - Moorhen
4 - Gadwall
3 - Little Grebe plus chick
2 - Lapwing
2 - Cormorant
2 - Common Tern plus chicks
2 - Tufted Duck
1 - LITTLE EGRET

Pair of Mute Swans with six Signets

Grey Heron

Grey Herons in trees

Little Grebe

Common Terns with chicks

Little Egret 1

Little Egret 2

Yeadon Tarn

Sunday 31st July a.m.
  Another bright sunny start the temperature was 14°C when we reached Yeadon
Tarn. Walking round there were people fishing and a few model boats on the
water. There were a family of Moorhens with 6 chicks and a couple of older ones
which were probably from a first brood in spring. There were the other expected
Mallards and Canadas with House Martins flying above. There was of course planes
taking off and landing regularly at the close by airport.
c250 - Mallards
39 - Canadas
15 - House Martins
12 - Coot
7 - Moorhen plus chicks
plus other species

Yeadon Tarn

Canada Geese and Mallards

Coot

Mallards

Moorhen Chick

Moorhen with chicks

Plane coming in to land

Shibden Park and Elland Gravel Pits

Saturday 30th July a.m.
 This morning started off bright and sunny, the temperature was 12°C when we
reached Shibden Park. Here we had a walk along side the pond where there
were around 100 Mallards and 12 BH Gulls, we saw 5 House Martins and 2
Swifts flying overhead.
 We then went to Elland Gravel Pitts and walked along side the River Calder and
the Calder and Hebble Navigation canal. We saw several Mallards at various
locations, Spotted Woodpecker, Wren,Long Tailed Tit and 6 Swift overhead.

Shibden Park Mallards

Spotted Woodpecker 1

Spotted Woodpecker 2

Spotted Woodpecker 3

Spotted Woodpecker 4

Wren

Redcar Tarn

Friday 29th July p. m.
  After our visit to Bingley we went to Redcar Tarn high above Keighley where we saw
the usual species of birds in high numbers. The Tufted Duck we saw a couple of weeks
ago with three chicks now only has one, but we saw another Tufted female with four chicks.
There were a couple of Lesser Black Backed Gulls about which were showing some interest
in the chicks.We think the picture below shows a LBB Gull on a drum but there have been
some Yellow-legged Gulls in the area, we're not able to spot the differences between
these very similar Gulls.
c150 BH Gulls
c100 Mallards
c 25 Coot plus chicks
15 Canadas
15 Lapwing
6 Tufted Ducks plus chicks
4 LBB Gulls
3 Moorhen plus chicks
1 Pied Wagtail

Redcar Tarn

Tarn Island

Tufted Duck with single growing chick

Tufted Duck with four chicks

LBB Gull

Pied Wagtail

Coot chicks growing well

Dowley Gap and Five Rise Locks

Friday 29th July p.m.
 This afternoon was bright and sunny with a temperature of 18°C. We went to Bingley
for a walk on the path which runs along the side of the Leeds to Liverpool canal, we
started off at Dowley Gap. At this location we saw 16 Greylag Geese,12 Canadas and
6 Mallards. We then moved to the Five Rise Locks where we saw a pair of Mute Swans
with their chick.Walking along the side of the canal towards Keighley we saw another
20 Canadas, c80 Common Geese, 10 Mallards,a group of 10 House Sparrows, 1 BH Gull,
and 1 Moorhen with juvenile.

Greylag Goose

Greylag Goose

Five Rise Locks

Mute Swans with chick

BH Gull and Mallards

Canada Geese

Moorhen with juvenile

House Sparrow

Common Geese

Garden Visitors

Sunday 24th July p.m.
  A warm sunny afternoon which I was pleased to see another visit from our Spotted
Woodpecker along with the usual Blue and Great Tits. The garden is doing well now
with plenty plants flowering well. Some of these are Chrysanthemum, Lavender,
Loosestrife, Monarda and a pink Rose.

Spotted Woodpecker

Spotted Woodpecker

Chrysanthemum

Lavender

Loosestrife

Monarda

Pink Rose

Leeshaw and Leeming Reservoirs

Sunday 24th July a.m.
  Another bright and sunny start to the day with the temperature at 12°C. At Leeshaw
Reservoir we saw a Little Owl enjoying the sun and paying us very little attention. The
Greylag and Canada Geese were still present and we also saw some Oystercatcher.We
also spotted a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.
There were some LBB & BH Gulls on the far shore and a few Swalows.
     At Leeming Reservoir we saw 25 Mallards, 10 Canadas, 8 BH Gulls, 6 LBB gulls
over the fields and 2 Moorhen.

Little Owl

Oystercatcher

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Black-headed Gulls

  

Redcar Tarn

Saturday 23rd July a.m.
  This morning started off bright and sunny with a temperature of 10°C as we made
our way up to Redcar Tarn. Here we saw the usual birds with the addition of three
Lapwing on the island and a group of 17 flying over the Tarn. It was good to get out
again and see some birds after the heavy rain last weekend.
c100 - Mallards
c40 - BH Gull
20 - Lapwing
16 - Coot plus chicks
16 - Swift
10 - Sand Martin
6 - Tufted Duck plus chick
4 - Moorhen
4 - LBB Gull
4 - Swallows
2 - Canada plus chicks

Redcar Tarn Island Birds

Coot with chicks

Swallow

Lapwing on island

Lapwings flying overhead

Lapwings