The sad decline of HGF?

HGF this morning was relatively quiet with the gulls having moved on and the fields devoid of life due to the farmer harrowing the fields. A Common Sandpiper was the only real interest. Having recently reviewd some records I found the following stats for the pool in August:
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Tufted Duck 30-40 (2006) 50-70 (2007) 50-70 (2008) 16-35 (2009)
Pochard 20-30 (2006) 7-9 (2007) 8-12 (2008) 0-6 (2009)
Little Grebe 15-22 (2006) 11-19 (2007) 10-23 (2008) 5-7 (2009)
Black-necked Grebe 1 (2006) 3-5 (2007) 4 (2008) 1-2 (2009)
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On the flip side:
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Coot 55-60 (2006) 25-57 (2007) 70-110 (2008) 75-89 (2009)
Great Crested Grebe 3-4 (2006) 5-8 (2007) 7-9 (2008) 12-16 (2009)
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The Tufted Duck numbers are concerning this year - the summer/early autumn moulting flock is well down on recent years and Pochard have virtually disappeared. The Little Grebe flock is also concerning - last year the autumn flock which normally numbers around 25 birds disappeared virtually overnight and this year numbers are well down. I can only think disturbance is to blame though other factors may be at work. This morning no Pochards and only 16 Tufted Ducks though a repeat visit this evening produced 25 of the latter. A pair of Kestrels were annoying a Buzzard which was hanging in the wind on the east side - something they like to do. I have seen four Buzzards in a line simply hanging in the wind on the east side before.
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A swift divert around Frodsham in extremely windy conditions produced 2 juvenile Black Terns over No. 6 tank along with at least 400 Sand Martins and a couple of Swifts. The dodgy hybrid Ruddy Shelduck with the very white face was also around. No waders were immediately visible, I went to the far end to scan from there and saw a long line of waders stretched out right across the middle of the mud flat. At the limit of my scope I counted approximately 310 Ringed Plover and 120 Dunlin though they all scarpered back towards the Weaver bend before I had the chance to scan for the Wood Sandpiper or the Curlew Sandpiper which has been around for a week or so.

Little Owl, Croft

Green Sandpiper, Pennington Flash

Red Knot with Common Terns, Seaforth

Buzzard, Houghton Green Flash

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Last week I also shoe horned in a swift visit to Seaforth - forgot about this one. Lots of waders with around 700 Dunlin, 210 Blackwits, 150+ Redshanks, 45+ Knot (many still in breeding plumage), 18 Curlew, 8 Oystercatchers and a Turnstone. The Common Terns were down to around 150 birds.

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Today continues the recent raptor theme. While scanning the fields around Midhops Farm at HGF early this morning I noticed two Sparrowhawks flying over the cereal crop in the far field. They turned out to be a female with a smaller juvenile - the latter kept pestering mum for food. The female suddenly accelerated towards the farm at low level - not sure how she was going to catch anything though as junior was flying aboe and behind her and was very conspicuous. I wonder if there is a Sparrowhawk version of "will you do as your bloody told!"

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They disappeared around the farm and I then spotted another juvenile. This one flew over the cereal crop until it reached the ploughed field and dropped right onto a Woodpigeon which was feeding along the margin. The juvenile Spar clearly hadn't a clue what to do with the far larger woody and consequently the latter escaped. Back came mum and juvenile number one right in front of me with mum having a pop at the Swallows and missing by a mile!

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Not much around the pool though still good gull numbers and a Grey Wagtail present. Interesting to see someone has reported a Hobby here today on Bird Guides. On the way to work a field vole made a run for it across the busy A57 - I had to swerve a bit to avoid it but the little critter somehow survived.

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On the way home from work I diverted through Rixton again. Two Green Sandpipers and a couple of Teal were on the pool at the foot of the tip off Prospect Lane. The pool has half dried up and looks perfect for waders. In the next field along, just before the farm, I spotted a largish flock of wagtails. I counted eight Yellow Wags (6 juveniles and 2 females) with 10 Pied Wags - however before I finished scanning a group as large again buggered off and I could hear more Yellow Wags in it calling! Not many gulls on the tip but a flock of around 75 Linnets on Holly Bush Lane. A Kestrel was also flitting around with a small furry animal in its talons.

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Moat Lane pool one was stuffed with birds - 174 Canada Geese to be precise. A Nuthatch did fly over and a small stocky duck circled the pool, dropped down to land and then suddenly took off west. I had difficult views due to lighting, however it looked more like a female Mandarin or Wood Duck than anything else. On pool two a Common Sandpiper was joined by two Mute Swans and a couple of Herons. This evening a juvenile Kestrel was eating a vole on a fencepost on Waterworks Lane.

Raptors

Bit of a quiet spell recently – partly down to me being completely knackered all the time and partly down to this being the doldrums of the birding year. The latter should change in a few weeks in a big way and the former will be fixed by a holiday and a spell under the surgeon’s knife in Sept to fix my nose!
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Last week was very quiet though it was nice to catch up with Jonathan. Brief highlights included Wheatear at Conwy plus Yellow Wagtail and Green Sandpiper at Frodsham. The garden has also been very quiet with just the now usual juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker to create interest.
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On Friday morning a Common Sandpiper and two Grey Wagtails livened up HGF. I went back late evening and as I walked through the field to the south a Kestrel flew over my head. I then spotted another near the kennels and then another and then a fourth over the east side. But then hang on a minute – that fourth bird is not a Kes! I was then treated to a 20 minute aerobatic display by a Hobby which was swooping around catching insects over the tree line east of the pool. It made the Kestrels look sluggish, so much so that one took exception and shooed the Hobby away.
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Saturday morning started with a trip to the hairdressers in Newton (for Karen – I was playing chauffeur). While she was getting cropped I wandered off to Newton Lake with Bill. The three Green Sandpipers were back on the mud flat and a male Kingfisher was also fishing from a branch in the water at left hand side. Two Grey Wagtails were in the brook and on the pool were the usual pair of Mute Swans, 9 Canada Geese, a Little Grebe (adult), a Tufted Duck, 7 Teal and 9 Gadwall. A Buzzard also flew over – a very enjoyable spell of local birding.
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Saturday evening and a wander around Pennington didn’t produce any great excitement. Eight Green Sandpipers from Teal Hide and a Snipe with the female Garganey from Ramsdales. On a more recent visit the latter has now moved to Horrocks Hide – two Willow Warblers and male and female Blackcaps showed well in the bushes to the left with a Chiffchaff singing nearby.
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Yesterday evening while driving through Croft I diverted down Lady Lane and watched both adult Little Owls. One was wandering around at the foot of the left hand tree, the other was perched high in the usual tree and very difficult to spot. I had a brief chat with the land owner who turned up with a pony and trap – nice chap. Late afternoon today and an owl was preening on top of the bales.
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This morning I arrived at HGF, got out of the car and immediately all the birds went up. I spotted a Kestrel and a Buzzard on the deck, however neither of these appeared to be the cause of the commotion. The culprit soon appeared – another Hobby which didn’t hang around this time and sped off east. A Sparrowhawk was also flitting around near Midhops – four raptors! A Yellow Wagtail flew over calling and on the pool was a Common Sandpiper with the usual suspects all still present including both Black-necked Grebes. The adult is still largely in breeding finery.
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Due to the fields being ploughed there are plenty of birds around with 90 Lapwings and 3 Herons in the field nr the kennels. Plenty of gulls too with 470+ Black-headed Gulls bathing on the water and 12 Common and 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the field opposite the kennels. Also today a couple of Buzzards on Waterworks Lane and Kestrels on Waterworks and Highfield Lanes. The latter also produced 18 Linnets and 12 Greenfinches.
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A recent trip to Risley Moss turned into a good spell of birding. As soon as I arrived on a sunny morning at 10:15 I found four Hobbys up in the air together – they showed very well for the rest of the morning with several close fly overs and plenty of action catching insects. At least 6 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels and a brief view of a Marsh Harrier only improved the morning; however the best was yet to come. Scanning over towards the tip I spotted a large raptor flying laboured along the tree line. I couldn’t get a good view of it and the bird initially had me stumped. It then flew up to gain height and revealed itself to be an Osprey! I watched it for around five minutes disappear off to the east while at this time the two other birders present were watching a ring-tail Hen Harrier pass in front of us – I missed it! One of the other guys did manage to get onto the Osprey though. Roll on my forthcoming week in Northumberland where there looks to be plenty of interest already with Citrine Wagtails and Semi-palmated Sandpiper! Can’t wait.

Greenfinch flock

The fields around Winwick and HGF have started to drop and I am looking forward to my autumn views of the local Grey Partridge population - I wonder how they have fared? This evening one of these harvested fields produced a nice bonus. Off Highfield Lane in what was yesterday a field of wheat I noticed a flock of 80+ little brown jobs nr the phone mast. Expecting Linnets or Goldfinches I got my scope out to find they were all Greenfinches bar two Chaffinches. I think this is the largest flock of Greenfinches I have seen around here - they perched up nicely in the top of a hawthorn hedge when they weren't feeding on spilled seed.
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At HGF this morning 6 additional Mute Swans joined the resident two and a pair of Teal also dropped in. A Buzzard flapped around nr Myddleton Farm - shortly after I saw a second one perched on the usual fenceline on Waterworks Lane. In the now ploughed field opposite the kennels were five herons and around 70 Lapwings, 17 Black-headed Gulls and the usual large group of corvids. A few Swifts tonight and a flock of 44 Lesser Black-backed Gulls heading towards the Mersey. Today the day had an autumn feel about it!

Windy Weekend

xxxxA few views of Hesketh Out Marsh - it was a bit grey and windy!

xxxxCommon Gull Southport

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Thursday evening I decided to have a wander around to Pennington just for the sake of something different. I did a swift tour of the hides but nothing interesting was around aside from a Snipe and a Green Sandpiper from Teal Hide. The latter flew off shortly after I arrived, no doubt heading for its roosting site at Hope Carr. One observation I would make is that there appears to be, in my opinion, much more focus on accommodating human visitors to PF than there is for the birds. Rather than building a new hide, the money could have been put towards providing pumps to control the water levels or even on some work controlling vegetation in certain areas. My fear is that PF will quickly loose its status as the jewel in the GM birding crown.
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On Friday evening I again noticed a flock of Linnets on the wires off Parkside Rd – 54 birds were present. The next night a total of 94 Linnets were on the wires with birds still arriving as I left. I have noticed over the years that this seems to be a good spot for these finches.
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HGF has been relatively quiet the last four days or so. Nothing much moving with a few Swifts and the odd Sand Martin passing through. A juvenile Buzzard was perched on the apex of Midhops barn on Friday morning – he was on the end leaning over and watching the Swallows coming and going below. I could almost see the thought going through his mind – “Now how do I catch one of them then!”. This morning a small influx of Pochards was a welcome change to the 2 or 3 birds that have spent the summer here. The juvenile Black-necked Grebe is getting more elusive and harder to find each day – it keeps feeding under the bankings. The number of corvids hanging around has increased too with the fields starting to drop. On Friday a flock opposite the kennels contained 118 Rooks, 34 Crows and 23 Jackdaws.
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On Thursday afternoon I had a quick detour around Frodsham No. 6 tank on the way home. Around 20 Redshanks (mostly juveniles) were feeding on the near shore with a Snipe and 2 Ruff. A single Black-tailed Godwit was also present but nothing else. On Saturday morning I decided to have a longer wander around the place. No. 6 tank held no waders other than a flock of 54 Black-tailed Godwits though 4 Black-necked Grebes (2 adults and 2 juveniles) were bobbing around in a small group with 98 Tufties, 14 Pochards and 23 Ruddy Ducks also on the water.
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At one point I watched three Buzzards hanging in the air over the near edge of No.6 tank, one over the other like a Fokker Triplane! A fourth bird flew off No.5 tank and joined them – they then drifted off south. I then had a wander around to the Weaver Bend. The weather was very unhelpful with a very strong wind blowing and the odd shower. Four Common Sandpipers, three Black-tailed Godwits and twelve Dunlin was on the banks. Although it was by now four hours after high tide (a low high tide at that), the water level was very high with no exposed mud – presumably due to the strong winds. Consequently not much joy for the waders though a distant view of around 120 Redshanks was had down river. In the fields surrounding the river around 450 Canada Geese plus a sprinkling of Greylags were grazing.
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One birder I met there was recounting the hundreds of waders that he used to spot on the old ICI tank – not a chance of one these days due to Peel Holdings management of the place. On the opposite side of the river it was clear that plenty of birds were visiting the tank there – unfortunately it appears to be out of view for birders and only accessible through the INEOS site. Six Buzzards were in the air together over this tank though and a group of 17 Swifts passed through.
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On Sunday I had trouble sleeping so 06:40 found Billy and I stood on a very, very windy Ainsdale beach. I suspect Jonathan would have been up birding for two hours by then – still very early for me though! Nothing was moving over the water with the exception of a couple of Gannets. The shoreline was equally quiet with around 250 Sanderling, 6 Knot, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Curlew and a couple of Ringed Plovers forming the wader presence. No Dunlins! Around 150 Sandwich Terns and a single Common Tern failed to attract the attention of any Arctic Skuas.
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At Marshside it was also a little on the quiet side with a Snipe and a juvenile Dunlin present on the Junction Pool. Over the salt marsh beyond the sand plant seven Kestrels were in the air together and a Little Egret flew over. I wandered up to Crossens Outer Marsh where a female/juvenile Marsh Harrier spooked the birds present and gave good views. Another Little Egret was one of the birds moving out.
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Having recently read an article in a magazine that Dorothy found regarding Hesketh Out Marsh reserve and coupled with Jonathan’s accounts of the place I decided to pay it a visit. It is not open to the public until 28th October, however the warden at Marshside, who incidentally has recorded this area for years, kindly gave me some directions. I parked up in the car park for the clay pigeon shooting club and wandered down the track to the “bus stop” as Jonathan calls it. Given the public footpath goes all the way along the sea defence banking I can’t see the point of a hide which offers no protection against the elements!
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A few interesting birds were found here. At least five Greenshanks were spotted with three disappearing into the many channels and pools which are hidden from view. Two of them remained in full view on the pool opposite the hide. Also here were 12 Redshanks, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 15 or so Curlews (including a juvenile which was a dead ringer for a Whimbrel except for the lack of a median crown stripe), a drake Wigeon and a Golden Plover. A female/juvenile Marsh Harrier also appeared briefly before dropping into some reeds and not reappearing. Further along three Little Egrets were also moving around the various pools.
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This site will be interesting in winter and will get more and more birds once the changes arising from the introduction of salt water to a fresh water environment have settled down. I can also see it being frustrating when a rarity appears as there are so many channels and pools for the birds to vanish into. I will certainly be spending more time here in the winter though I think it will get a bit cold as it is very exposed!

A few days in the south west

xxImmature Cattle Egret, Chew Valley Lake, Somerset

xxCattle Egret early morning

xx Little Egret, CVL

xxLittle Egrets, CVL

xxRed-crested Pochard (juvenile), CVL

xxGreen Sandpiper, Pennington Flash

xxCommon Scoters, Pennington Flash

xxSmall Tortoiseshell, Langley Burrell, Wiltshire

xxSmall Copper, Langley Burrell

xx Peacock, HGF

xxPainted Lady, Langley Burrell

xx Large White, Langley Burrell

xxComma, Langley Burrell

xxC-130 Hercules, Langley Burrell. RAF Lyneham is only a few miles away, xxconsequently the RAF's workhorse was over every few minutes or so!

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Last Friday, at the end of a long week, I popped in to PF for half an hour just to see if the water levels had dropped any. It was still more like Loch Ness - and consequently no waders from Horrocks Hide. A flock of 41 Common Scoters were out in the middle but difficult to see in the heat haze and with the sun shining head on. The flock was very nervous and stayed bunched together with birds constantly diving - all down to the bloody yachts that kept sailing past. A single Green Sandpiper was on Teal Hide pool - otherwise very quiet and I didn't linger.

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Saturday morning and a quick mooch down to HGF before heading down to the SW to stay with my brother in law Mark and his fiance Becky for a few days. Only the usual stuff present, however as I trudged back through the south field I suddenly looked up to see a Whimbrel fly low over, heading south. Superb for this place!

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Langley Burrell is a picturesque little village in Wiltshire with beautiful countryside all around. I didn't do much birding as the main reason for being there was a family birthday celebration. I did pick up Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Coal Tit and 3 Buzzards from the garden though. Late afternoon and I took Billy for a wander down to the nearby River Avon - a slow moving and not particularly large river at this point. A Kingfisher fishing in a pool was a nice sight, by one pool a large school of fish consisted of many Roach, a couple of large Perch and a much larger Rudd. It was extremely pleasant sitting in the sun watching the fish with dragonflies and butterflies (mainly Small Coppers and Common Blues) buzzing around everywhere.

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I heard a raptor calling and a female Sparrowhawk sailed into view with two squabbling juveniles following right behind. They hung around for around fifteen minutes and the juveniles engaged in some talon grappling. On the way back Buzzard, Green Woodpecker, Yellowhammer and Linnet were added to the bird list - I also found a badger sett with lots of discarded bedding outside. It was in the far bank of a ditch which ran parallel to the footpath near the river.

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On Sunday morning I had a couple of hours free so I headed off to Chew Valley Lake in Somerset. I have been several times before, however the lake is very large and I have never had time to walk all the way around it. A good website for the place is CVLbirding.co.uk. A single birder was present when I arrived at Heron's Green Bay - one of the few places where you can park by the road and view some of the lake. A juvenile Cattle Egret was perched on some railings by Heron's Green Pool - a duckpond type affair across the road. Nine Little Egrets were also present on this pond. Two adult Cattle Egrets were present in fields somewhere up the road, however I am still largely in summer can't be arsed mode so I decided not to go looking for them or for the Great White Egret at nearby Mere Heath.

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The other birder then set up his scope to scan Heron's Bay for the long staying Fudge duck. He plonked his scope down and looked through it to find himself looking at a Garganey. Even when he pointed out where the bird was I struggled to see it - the bird was obscured by a flock of Coots and we were looking straight into the sun. Total fluke! He left and shortly after the Garganey flapped its wings to reveal it was an eclipse drake. There was no sign of the Fudge -having looked for it here before (and found it) I know it can be a little bugger to find. A wader flew out calling from behind some bushes at the south end of the bay - a Greenshank. It landed at the north end of the bay, wandered around for a few minutes and then disappeared. Two Black-tailed Godwits wheeled around the bay and a Common Sandpiper appeared followed by three Snipe and a Kingfisher - it was all action now! A female Goldeneye was present in the bay along with four Ruddy Ducks, around 50 or so Tufted Ducks, 500 Coots and nearly the same number of Great Crested Grebes. The GCG's were everywhere! Suddenly a juvenile Red-crested Pochard appeared too at the north end and a couple of Green Woodpeckers began calling.

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Late on Sunday I took Billy and wandered down towards the river - mainly to see if any owls were around. As I approached the badger sett I noticed a dark shape in the field behind it - a badger was feeding there! I sat down quietly on the ditch bank with Billy beside me and in the descending darkness I watched a total of four badgers leave the sett and begin wandering around the field. It was a supremely warm, clear and still night and the nearest badger was no more than 50 yards away - it was amazing. I watched them for around twenty minutes and they never once gave any sign that they were aware of my presence. Without doubt my best wildlife experience of the year!

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Back home on Tuesday and HGF still fairly quiet. A Ringed Plover and a Grey Wagtail dropped in while I was there early am. In the evening by Midhops a flock of at least 160 House Sparrows flitted along the hedge - brilliant to see them doing well. This evening I made a quick pit stop to Hope Carr. Three Green Sandpipers on the usual pool was about it. At Newton Lake on the way home five Teal were on the back pool with the Little Grebe family (mum, dad and youngster) also present.

Insects

Mother Of Pearl moth, HGF

Common Blue Damselfly, HGF

Cinnebar catterpillars on ragwort, HGF

Moulting drake Pochard, HGF

Shovelers, HGF

Meadow Brown, HGF

Painted Lady, HGF

Ragged looking Gatekeeper, HGF

Red-tailed Bumblebee, HGF

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A nice sunny day for a change and insects galore. The most common appears to be Painted Ladies at HGF, they are everywhere. Lots of other things around though - the area behind he east hedge, which is overgrown, is lifting with insects including those bloody horseflies!

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HGF today was quiet and still. The second juvenile Black-necked Grebe has vamooshed, however six Shovelers came in for a while. They were obviously testing out new flight feathers and spent time doing circuits of the area before landing back down. By Midhops 196 Lapwings were feeding in the bare field and the usual large numbers of Swallows were joined by four House Martins and a couple of Swifts. I suspect virtually all of the local Swifts are on their way back to Africa now and any future birds are liable to be passage birds.

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A very large flock of House Sparrows was around HGF today - at least 70 birds. Time was I used to get this number in the back yard 30 years ago - not today. I did get 21 in the garden today which is a good number - a Great Spotted Woodpecker was also hanging around. Back at HGF a large group of Long-tailed Tits (around 35 birds) flew bouncily over the wheat field. It always seems odd to see a flock of these birds flying relatively high and out in the open. You can hear them coming from a mile away! A Buzzard was also skulking behind the east hedge - I ended up flushing the bird when I went round the back looking for butterflies.

Rixton

My nephews Jospeh and Isaac, the next generation of birders when I have finished with them!
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Drove through Rixton on the way home this evening. Nothing much by the pool except a Whitethroat which decided to play hide and seek with me in a small bush. By the tip the usual collection of corvids and around 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls plus a couple of Stock Doves with 2 Grey Herons on the tip pool. Up on Holly Bush Lane things livened up with a large mixed flock of finches and buntings all flitting around a potatoe field. With 40+ Linnets and roughly the same number of Goldfinches were 15 Greenfinches, 4 Corn Buntings and 2 Yellowhammers. Four Grey Partridges were also running along the road.

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This morning at HGF a juvenile Yellow Wagtail briefly appeared near Midhops - flitting through the 80 Lapwings present. This is the first Yellow Wag sighting for nearly 2 weeks and by far the latest sighting of one I have had here. Two juvenile Black-necked Grebes were also present and around 80 Swallows were feeding nr Midhops this evening. A quick mooch down Silver Lane tonight produced nothing other than two female Kestrels - one adult and one juvenile. The latter kept flitting around on the wires - waiting for me to get close and then moving off to the next wire. It keot this up for around 20 minutes!

IT

Green Sandpipers, Newton Lake

Sparrowhawk, Risley Moss

Buzzard, Rixton landfill site

Buzzard

Main pool off Moat Lane, Rixton

Second Moat Lane pool

View from hillside above Earby, West Yorkshire

Earby, looking towards Skipton

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IT - IRRITATING TECHNOLOGY! I've spent quite a bit of time recently buggering about with the blog, trying to get the images to show larger. I figured out how to change the HTML code to make the columns wider but found that the only way to make the photographs fit the new column width was to stretch them with unpleasant results (not that the photos were award winning anyway!). I decided to try PhotoBucket, and immediately got an annoying piece of malware called Personal Antivirus on my computer. Doubly annoying - it was the company laptop!

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I ran the McAfee anti-virus software and it found nothing. I then realised the software was 18 months old! Lovely. Upon getting into work yesterday I found that the company had migrated to a different anti-virus software about 18 months ago, however I was on the road at the time and knew nothing about this. I finally got some new software and got rid of Personal AV and around 13 other viruses/spyware etc which had embedded on the machine.

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Anyway back to birding. Or lack of. To be honest I am in completely can't be arsed mode at the moment - I wander around with Bill for the sake of being outside but don't take birding seriously. So consequently not much in the way of excitement to report.

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At HGF the Coot flock is now up to 80+ with the other species more or less the same. We have been down to a single juvenile Black-necked Grebe for several days - this one went walk about for a day or so at the weekend but is now back. Friday and Saturday a couple of juvenile Ruddy Ducks made a change and this morning around 85 Swallows were feeding over the newly dropped barley field nr Midhops.

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In the garden the sole interesting sighting was a male Sparrowhawk who visited a couple of times on Saturday. When we first moved down here, a female Sparrowhawk was a regular visitor. I reckon I saw her in the garden around 10 times each month on average and in the first year that we lived here she took 13 Collared Doves that I know of plus a few other birds. While she visited the garden regularly, I never saw a male. Unfortunately she disappeared during winter 2007/08 and while a new female occasionally visits, the male is now the regular visitor. I suspect while the old female was around he kept well out of her way!

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On Saturday evening I had a wander over to Newton Lake, primarily to see if any Teal had arrived back. None had, however the first thing I noticed when I got there was a calling Green Sandpiper. I enetually spotted the bird on the mud flat at the back of the pool - as I watched a second bird walked out of the undergrowth. Five minutes later I heard a third bird calling behind me and one flew in from the direction of town! They looked like two worn adults and a very smart fresh looking juvenile. They also settled down quite happily and were still there half an hour later when I got back from walking Bill. I have always wondered why I never see waders on this mud flat. Although it could be said there are too many people around, there were plenty on Saturday and even when Common Sandpipers pass through here they spend more time at the front of the pool and are rarely seen on the mud flat. Curious! Not seen them since though this evening the first female Teal is back and the Little Grebe family from the pool in the back wood is now present.

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On Sunday I had a walk up to Risley Moss, more because I couldn't think of anywhere to go than any interest in seeing a Hobby. As soon as I arrived the locals announced that no Hobbies had been seen for several days. I wasn't that fussed. A couple of Sparrowhawks circled over together but that was about it. I didn't stay long - although a couple of the locals were chatty, at least two were regarding me as though I was a new species of cockroach! One of them was shocked when I attempted to talk to him so I gave up and left.

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At Rixton Moss a bit more life. A couple of Buzzards and two Kestrels were floating around with at least 55 Goldfinches along the lanes. On the tip pool was a large flock of Canada Geese and around 90 Swifts passed through heading west. First sign of migration? On the Moat Lane pools the juvenile Great Crested Grebe has now been abandoned by mum and dad and an adult Little Grebe was at the back. On pool two, two female Tufted Ducks were swimming around, one with two young juveniles and one with a single slightly older juvenile. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called nearby.

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This evening while travelling along Parkside Road I spotted large flock of finches on the wires. When I stopped I counted 57 Linnets, yet another sign that summer for the birds is over. By the large house further along the lane two Kestrels were hunting and in the distance a Sparrowhawk was being mobbed by a large flock of hirundines. A few days ago a Buzzard was wandering around in this field with a pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls - no sign tonight!

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Yesterday afternoon was a visit to the dentist - our dentist is in Earby (W Yorks) near where we used to live. Lovely to be back in the land of hills - I wandered up the lane at the back of town and took a few snaps of the landscape looking towards Malham and Skipton - views don't get much better than this!