Dowley Gap

Sunday 30th November a.m.
 A much better day with the sun making an appearance at long last with a temperature of 9.5°C on our arrival at Dowley Gap in Bingley.We started off by checking out the hedgerows around the car park area which provided good numbers of Blackbirds after the berries on the trees.We also saw a distant bird thinking Redwing but looking at our snap I think more likely a Song Thrush among the berries.
 We waked down to the canal tow path seeing a couple of Mute Swans grazing & the usual Mallards on the canal. We walked on 1/2 a mile or so seeing a Goosander flypast & a Jay in the trees with a few nuts ready for a snack.We turned back & walked under the road bridge a soon after caught sight of a Kingfisher on a branch overhanging the canal.Its been a while since we last saw one so this was a real treat for us.After perching for a while it dived into the water & came up with a fish which was soon eaten.We were not able to get any snaps of this, it would take a really good camera & photographer to capture those images but we managed some decent snaps of it perched on a couple of different branches.The little gem was soon gone & so we walked on seeing several Pied Wagtails at the water works and getting a fly past of a Grey Wagtail as we passed over the aqueduct.The River was being used by rowing boats from the local club, we headed back pleased with an enjoyable walk & seeing some good birds.

female Kingfisher

Todays List

Jay with its nuts

Song Thrush

Plenty Grey Squirrels about today

Mute Swans

Always a treat to see a Kingfisher

Dowley Gap 30/11/14