Cullingworth & Hewenden Reservoir

Sunday 30th October a.m.
 Yet another cloudy morning with a temperature of 10°C as we made our way through the village to Hewenden Viaduct.In the trees at the side of the viaduct were a mixed flock of birds containing Blue, Great and LT Tits plus Goldfinch these added to the Robins and Collared Doves we had seen on our walk here.An initial look at the Reservoir had BH Gulls on the Dam wall,a couple of Canadas, Mallards and a Grey Heron on and by the water, above we were treated to a flypast of c100 Woodpigeons.At the other side of the viaduct we saw a couple of distant Mistle Thrush, from here it was quiet through the wood and the top end of the Reservoir but coming back the other side it livened up a bit.We saw a mixed flock of Fieldfare and Redwings with c20 of each on the water were four Teals and four Tufteds all at distance,a Cormorant was seen overhead.The Fieldfare and Redwings were scattered when a Kestrel came and landed in the tree where they had made their quick exit from.Our final birds of the morning came at the farm where there were a couple of Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail.

Fieldfare

Goldfinch

Fieldfare & Goldfinch

Redwing

Kestrel

Pied Wagtail

Some Autumn colour at Hewenden Reservoir 30/10/2016

St Ives

Saturday 29th October a.m.
 A cloudy start to the day with a temperature of 13°C at St Ives near Harden which felt much warmer than yesterday with a lot less wind blowing.We headed straight for the Coppice Pond where there were c50 Canadas with the same numbers of Mallard and BH Gulls.The hide proved fruitless as it has done on all our recent visits, but there were a couple of Goosanders which gave us chance of some snaps.There were also two Mute Swans with Yellow Tag numbers 101 & 136, a domesticated Greylag which now calls this area its home, others were Coots & Moorhens.We did get a first here as we heard the call of a Wagtail which we spotted on the island,it was a Grey not much else was seen as we walked around the Coppice Pond.

Goosander

Record snap of Grey Wagtail

Domesticated Greylag

Mute Swans

St Ives Coppice Pond 29/10/2016

Redcar Tarn

Friday 28th October p.m.
 A trip this afternoon up to Redcar Tarn where it was cloudy with a temperature of 12°C but feeling much colder with a strong wind blowing.We started off over the road seeing c50 Lapwings and in a field further back c100 Canadas with five Greylags.We had a walk round the Tarn seeing one Goosander on the island and just four Tufteds, twelve Muscovys along with the usual Mallards,Coots and Moorhens.
 Then we started to have a look through the c100 Gulls the majority of which were Black-headed with ten Commons, five LBBs and one Herring Gull.These were at different ages which means their feathers are different as are their bills so we attempt to show some of the differences in the pictures below.We still find this a difficult process particularly with the larger Gulls which can have sub species thrown in just to add to the confusion, so if we have some wrong please feel free to put us right.

Herring Gull

Goosander

Lapwing

Muscovy Ducks

Adult BH Gull

BH Gull 1st Winter

BH Gulls 1st Winter & Adult

Odd ball White BH Gull

Adult Common Gull

1st Winter Common Gull

BH Gull with Common Gull behind, 1st Winter birds

Juvenile LBB Gull

2nd WinterLBB Gull

3rd Winter LBB Gull

Darker than normal head

Herring Gull

Redcar Tarn 28/10/2016

Dowley Gap

Sunday 23rd October a.m.
 A sunny morning with a temperature of 8°C with the first birds spotted near the car being five LT Tits.There were also a few Jays around but a walk along the canal started off quiet until a Wood Duck flew on to the canal.Soon after this a Grey Heron appeared and landed on an old dead tree where we were able to get some snaps, further along there were two Grey Wagtails and a few Goldfinch with a Kestrel in the distance.Also near here we saw six Redwings after some berries, others seen were Dunnock,Pied Wagtail,Wren and Moorhen.

Grey Heron

Grey Wagtail

Dunnock

Goldfinch

Kestrel

Pied Wagtail

Wood Duck

Dowley Gap 23/10/2016