Harden Moor

Sunday 14th August a.m.
 A cloudy morning with the sun not breaking through until near the end of our visit, the temperature was 15°C.We struggled for birds at the start of our walk around Harden Moor there was no sign of the Sand Martins in the quarry but a Little Owl got things moving soon followed by four Whitethroat who refused to pose for a snap.Moving around we picked up several Willow Warblers,Jays,Kestrel and some other common species.The vegetation is high now so snaps of anything was difficult as was getting some species in the bins as they dived for cover.Swallows were now overhead and a party of 15 House Martins moved through as we back tracked to try for another go at a Whitethroat snap, which we failed to get.We then went to the spot where we found a couple of Redstarts a fortnight ago and to our delight two appeared possibly the same birds.We moved off seeing a bird in the distance which had a different look, we got a bit closer and the bird stayed in the same area so we were able to get some snaps.We felt it was a Spotted Flycatcher but as we rarely see them were not positive but a look through the snaps we got confirmed the ID, the first local bird we've seen for several years the last being at Ogden Water in May 2011.On the way back to the car we saw a couple of butterflies and got a snap of a red Admiral.
 As we set out in the car this morning there were 15 Swifts over the village the latest we've seen them in Cullingworth.

Spotted Flycatcher

Kestrel

Little Owl

Meadow Pipit

Red Admiral

Redstart

Redstart hiding behind a flower

Willow Warbler

Our first Spotted Flycatcher on Harden Moor

Harden Moor 14/8/2016