Harold Park & Park Dam

From 30th May a.m.
 We had a late morning visit to Harold Park & Park Dam yesterday with some decent fine weather,
unlike this mornings heavy rain.A good mixture of birds at Harold Park but no Mute Swans,Swifts & House Martins were feeding over the water,Moorhens were enjoying the sunshine among the daisies.
It was great to see the pair of Great Crested Grebes with their two health chicks, one regularly having a ride on the parents back even though getting big at around three weeks old.
 Down the road at Park Dam again Swifts & House Martins joined by Swallows & a Sand Martin. There were two Mute Swans here along with Canadas,Tufted Duck,Little Grebe & some nesting Coots & good to see a Pied Wagtail.

GCG with chick riding on its back

Moorhen

Pied Wagtail at Park Dam

Grebes at Harold Park 30/5/15

Fly Flatts & Leeshaw

Saturday 30th May a.m.
Fly Flatts
 I started early making most of some dry sunny morning conditions & headed for Fly Flatts where it was feeling cold at just 5°C.There were good numbers of Canadas plus a Greylag was seen & Lapwings were making plenty of noise as they flew above me as I went down the path to the water. The path was waterlogged in places & very boggy in parts too so I was pleased I opted for my Wellies which kept my feet dry.Also overhead was a pair of Redshanks which again didn't seem happy by my presence, also in this area were a couple of Oystercatchers.As I walked along the banking I saw three Common Sandpipers & on the fencing below was a Reed Bunting.Along here the wind was blowing strongly & feeling the chill I soon headed back seeing Curlew & a Wheatear.
Leeshaw
 I headed down to Leeshaw for a quick visit getting close views of a couple of vocal Curlew, others being Lapwing,Common Sandpiper,House Martin,Swallow,Swift & Pied Wagtail.N.P.

Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Lapwing

Wheatear

Reed Bunting

Curlew

close view of Curlew at Leeshaw

Fly Flatts 30/5/15

Cullingworth Walk

Monday 25th May a.m.
Another dull morning as we set off on a walk of our local area with a temperature of 10°C seeing many common species on our route.The first surprise was a Goosander circling the top of the valley several times before heading off.also in this area were Whitethroat,Willow Warbler,Swallow,Swift & Long-tailed Tit.We then took a path uphill & along here saw Curlew,Mipits more Whitethroat,Linnet & a Little Owl.We heard the distant yaffle of a Green Woodpecker & for a change got a good view of it although a long way off.It didn't see us so we enjoyed watching it for several minuets, a real treat!
Further along a solitary Lapwing looked a bit lost with only Cows for company,also here Pied Wagtails.We headed back downhill for the local pond where we saw the Canadas with their goslings doing well also present Mallard,Mute Swan & Moorhen with the music supplied by Chiffchaff & Willow Warbler.We then headed for home happy after a good local walk with some good birds seen.

Green Woodpecker

male Chaffinch

Goosander

Lapwing

Linnet

Long-tailed Tit

Mute Swan

Song Thrush

Whitethroat

Cullingworth 25/5/15

Redcar Tarn

Sunday 24th May p.m.
Another disappointing morning with rain so birding was delayed until this afternoon with a visit to Redcar Tarn, where it was dry but still dull & feeling chilly in the strong wind, the temperature was 11°C.It was good to see a good number of Gulls, we counted 53 LBB Gulls,Mallards were also c50 among the other usual species.Swallows,Swift & House Martins were all over the water & there were also a number of Rooks.

BH Gull

LBB Gull

Mallard

Pied Wagtail

Rook

Gulls,Mallards & Rook

Redcar Tarn 24/5/25

Harden Moor

Saturday 23rd May a.m.
A dull overcast start to the day with a temperature of 9°C as we walked across Harden Moor,this made for some difficult birding.The trees are now back in full leaf which means the birds have a lot more cover, a Cuckoo made full use of this as we heard it through out our visit but didn't catch sight of it once.Sand Martins were flying above with a couple of Swallows passing through & a Kestrel also flew over.The highlight of the morning was a good view of a Little Owl, other notables were Redpoll,Linnet & Willow Warbler.

Little Owl

Redpoll

Willow Warbler