Harold Park & Park Dam

Saturday 31st May a.m.
 A bright start to the day with a temperature of 15°C on our arrival at Harold Park,where we saw
most of the regular birds.These being Canadas,Coots,Moorhen,Mallards & GC Grebe, the latter
coming close for some decent snaps as it dived for food.It seemed to catch something that looked like a Crab but we were unsure what it had caught.Down the road at Park Dam it was good to see all seven Cygnets doing well & the two GC Grebe chicks.They kept their distance this morning so just managed
one distant snap.We had our attention diverted by several Common Blue Damselflies & got a couple of snaps.

Great Crested Grebe

GC Grebe with its catch of food

Mute Swans & their Cygnets

Common Blue Damselfly

male & female Common Blue Damselflies

Harold Park

Cullingworth Walk

Friday 30th May a.m.
 The day started off dull & overcast with a temperature of 7°C as we took the dog for a different
route around the village.The first part of our walk took us to where we have seen warblers in recent
weeks, we were walking through wet grass along the footpath after all the recent rain.The first good
sighting was not a bird but a very pale coloured Deer, & warblers were in short supply, just the one
Willow Warbler. Other birds were present though & we got good views of Goldfinch,Greenfinch,
Siskin & LT Tits.We then went back to the main road & took a route roughly NW of the village,this
led to some different habitat where we saw Mipits,Linnets,Coal Tit,Willow Warbler,Sparrowhawk,
Chiffchaff & Wren.We later saw a group of Gulls which seemed mainly to be LBBs but others could
have been among them.We took plenty snaps as usual, but they never seem as good when you don't
have the sunlight & a bit of blue sky for the background.

Willow Warbler

Goldfinch

LT Tit

Siskin

Wren

pair of Linnet

Chiffchaff

Deer

RL Partridge

LBB Gull

LBB Gulls with maybe a few others in the mix

Cullingworth & Hewenden Reservoir

Monday 26th May a.m
 Well the Bank Holiday turned out well after some pessimistic weather forecast we ended up with
a lovely sunny day.We set off with a start temperature of 7°C in the sunshine heading for Hewenden
Viaduct taking the dog for a walk.Over the village there were several House Martins & Swifts both
of which we saw more of during our long walk around Hewenden Reservoir.Approaching the
viaduct we witnessed a competition between a Blackcap & a Willow Warbler to see who could sing
the loudest,our vote went to the Blackcap for a better tune.We saw more of these birds during our
journey we also saw Tufted Duck for the first time in the area & some Canadas with five young.
Coots looked to have a nest on the reservoir but we couldn't tell if they had young, we did see a
pair of Great Crested Grebes with two chicks,good to see they have bred locally.A Grey Heron was
also in the vicinity, at the other end of the viaduct we caught up with the first of five Pied Wags & a
Greenfinch posed with the Wagtail for a couple of snaps.Plenty Swallows were around,Chiffchaffs
were singing,as were Chaffinch & a Kestrel made a brief appearance making for a wonderful morning
walk in the local countryside.

male Blackcap

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Great Crested Grebe with chicks

House Martin

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler with food

Pied Wagtail

Blackcap singing a good tune

Hewenden Reservoir

St Ives

Sunday 25th May a.m.
 A rainy start to the day so we set off to St Ives near Bingley later in the morning when the rain
had stopped leaving overcast conditions with a temperature of 9°C.The Coppice Pond had the
usual Mallards,Canadas & Moorhen,one of the Mallards had seven chicks.The hide was our next
stop but only Grey Squirrels & a Stock Dove were on show here.We moved on to the Coppice Bog
area where we heard several birds singing & we got a few views of a male Blackcap, although we
couldn't get a decent snap of it.We then walked through the wood seeing a couple of Mistle Thrush
& there was a Chiffchaff making plenty noise, we came out to the area known as Heather Park.In this
area we saw Willow Warbler,Meadow Pipit,Chaffinch,Jay,LT Tits,Robin,Wren & Swallow.This area
also gave us the highlight of the morning when a Green Woodpecker flew into a distant tree giving us a reasonable view before flying off.A Coal Tit was also seen carrying food, no doubt to some nearby
young,we also saw what we initially thought was a red butterfly.We got some snaps of it & later looked
it up,we found it was actually a Moth called The Cinnabar.We headed back down the hill to the car &
by the time we got home the rain had started again so we were lucky to have a dry walk.

Green Woodpecker

Coal Tit carrying food

Wren

Stock Dove

The Cinnabar Moth

Grey Squirrel

Harden Moor & Redcar Tarn

Saturday 24th May a.m.
 We started the morning off on an overcast Harden Moor with a temperature of 9°C where
there were plenty birds around.It was difficult to ID some of them as they disappeared in to trees
& bushes now in full leaf.The Cuckoo was seen & heard in the distance then later it flew by pursued
by two other small birds probably Mipits.There was a very vocal Sony Thrush & we also saw Mistle
Thrush & a Little Owl flew out of a tree as we approached.The Sand Martins were still present with
others seen being Bullfinch,Linnet,Willow Warbler & Wren.Difficult for taking snaps in the poor light
so I have added a couple I took here in last weeks sunshine.
 We then moved over to Redcar Tarn where there were BH Gulls & a LBB Gull,Coots,Mallards,
Canadas & Tufted Ducks on the water,a little brighter here with a temperature of 10.5°C.Skylarks
& Lapwings were in the surrounding fields, & at the small pond we could see four Moorhen chicks.
We also got a distant view of a small bird which we thought might be Sedge Warbler but we were not certain, we did get a distant snap.We also had a fly over of two Oystercatchers & a couple of Swifts
were overhead & Swallows were over the water.

BH Gull 1st summer

BH Gull

LBB Gull

female Mallard with three chicks

Mallard chick

Moorhen chicks

possible Sedge Warbler

Linnet taken on Harden Moor last week

Song Thrush taken last week was very vocal again this morning

BH Gull 1st Summer taken at Redcar Tarn 24/5/2014