Hi James, of course it would, thank you.

Andrea

Hi Andrea ... it's a first winter Pied Wagtail.

Roger.

Today among the usual:

Cormorant

Skein of about 30 Pink Footed Geese heading south around 2pm

Single Wigeon briefly crossed the reservoir, unusual for Dove Stone!

Monday 6th January 2020, 9.00 - 10.00am.

Around Binn Green.

A decent sized finch and tit flock in the trees between the feeders and Holmfirth Road:

c100 Goldfinch
c40 Chaffinch
3 Brambling
Only 2 Greenfinch?
c20 Coal Tit
c20 Great Tit
c20 Blue Tit
2 Treecreeper
2 Nuthatch

13:00-15:30 Gentle amble with the family

3 Brambling at Binn Green, 12 Siskin, Kingfisher, Goosander, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, 10 Fieldfare through, Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch, 2 Treecreeper, Redwing.

8 Whooper Swans on Greenfield Reservoir at 10.30am.

Info from Chris Boyd (UU manager).

Day spent around here today; cloud cover low, meaning visibility at the top was terrible. Still, some nice birds found.

Dovestone, mainly around sailing club, Life for a life wood and opposite plantation:

7 willow warbler
4 blackcap
2 spotted flycatcher (one with food, seemed to feed the other)
1+ treecreeper
2 nuthatch
8+ lesser redpoll
1 greenfinch
2 reed bunting
c10 swallow
1 house martin
1 redstart (juvenile, found in plantation opposite sailing club, no sign of adults)
4 meadow pipit
1 pied wagtail
1 grey wagtail
1 oystercatcher

Chew Valley path:

5 willow warbler
1 blackcap
3 reed bunting
3 house martin
5 stonechat (two pairs one fledgling)
10+ meadow pipit
3 or 5 grey wagtail
1 dipper
1 skylark heard
1 or 2 ring ouzel
1 kestrel

Chew reservoir:

Fledgling wrens from 2 broods
19+ meadow pipit
1 pied wagtail
3 skylark
1 raven
1 dunlin
1+ common sandpiper
2 herring gull
1 peregrine

Around the site yesterday (Friday 10th May)

3 Common Sandpiper

2 Grey Wagtail

3 Pied Wagtail

Cormorant

pair of Wheatear

Curlew

Meadow Pipits

2 Singing Chiffchaff

6 Singing Willow Warbler

Blackcap

Jay

Mistle Thrush

Great Tits

Blue Tits

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Siskin

Robin

Mallards

Canada Geese

Single Greylag

 

-- Edited by James Minchin on Saturday 11th of May 2019 01:53:00 PM

Day off today, so spent around here.

Binn Green:

1 nuthatch
5 siskin
1 lesser redpoll (another over from path leading to res)
Goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch
1 bullfinch
1 song thrush
1 jay
1 great spotted woodpecker heard drumming

Yeoman Hay & Dovestone:

3 chiffchaff
c10 willow warbler
2 blackcap
3 siskin
2 lesser redpoll heard
1 reed bunting
2 swallow
1 stonechat
8 meadow pipit
4 pied wagtail
3 grey wagtail
1 song thrush
4 mistle thrush
1 common sandpiper
2 oystercatcher
1 grey heron
2 buzzard

Chew Valley path:

2 willow warbler
1 reed bunting heard
3 wheatear
11+ meadow pipit
1 dipper
1 skylark heard
2 ring ouzel
3+ red grouse

Chew reservoir:

12+ meadow pipit
1 pied wagtail
3 skylark heard
1 ring ouzel (a different individual to those noted on path)
2 common sandpiper
3 curlew

Yesterday on site, a sunny busy day (Thurs 28th).

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Coal Tit

Chaffinch

Siskin

Goldfinch

Robin

Blackbird

Pheasants galore

Woodpigeon

Sparrowhawk

Kestrel

Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Magpie

Mallard

Canada Geese

a pair of Tufted Duck on the main res

2 Cormorant

4 Heron (heading back to Greenfield from a toad and frog feast)

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Stonechat

Wren

Goldcrest

 

 

-- Edited by James Minchin on Friday 29th of March 2019 09:29:52 AM

Sun 10th Feb: (12:00 - 14:00 ish)
Chilly walk in changeable conditions that ranged from being fairly clear and bright to driving sleet and hail. Generally very quiet around the woodlands and on the hillsides, so not a lot to see birdwise.

- 1 Buzzard over the hillsides
- 1 Dipper - Channel around Greenfield Reservoir
- 1 Pied Wagtail - further along the same channel as the Dipper

At Binn Green Feeders
- 1 Siskin
- 4+ Coal Tit
- 10+ Chaffinch
- 10+ Goldfinch
- 4 Greenfinch
- c10 Pheasant

Wed 26th Dec
First visit in ages and the place was busy with both families walking off Christmas excess and blokes with guns laying waste to the local Pheasant population.

Stayed away from the shooting and just walked from Binn Green around Dovestones Reservoir. Plenty of Woodpigeon taking flight but not a lot else.

- 3 Mistle Thrush, inc 1 singing male
- 6+ Siskin - mainly at Binn Green
- 10+ Coal Tit at Binn Green with some Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and a few other tits
- 100+ Black-headed Gull
- small Falcon flying low over the hillside of the east side of Yeoman Hay Reservoir. It was flying low above the vegetation and I wanted to say Merlin rather than Kestrel, but I didn't see it long enough to be saying one or the other.

Very enjoyable, if very wet, day spent around here today. Didn't head up Chew Valley path today, so Binn Green (which was almost silent, just a couple of coal tit here), Yeoman Hey, Ashway Gap, and various plantations through to the sailing club:

1 goldcrest
2 chiffchaff
2 blackcap
6+ spotted flycatcher (family group, adults carrying food)
3 treecreeper
4 nuthatch
2+ lesser redpoll
6+ siskin (others unidentified in mixed flock)
10+ swallow
7 pied wagtail
2 grey wagtail
1 dipper
1 jay
1 raven
1 or 2 grey heron
4 - 6 kestrel
1 peregrine (extremely briefly, sped through high as I was watching a kestrel)
1 buzzard

What was surely a sparrowhawk trying to take a woodpigeon at Binn Green, too.

Monday June 17th. 17.00 - 18.30 hrs.

Nice to note Spotted Flycatcher ... first I've seen locally for a number of years.

Roger.

12.30pm - 3pm 5 Mistle Thurshe 4 Chaffinch 7 Mallard Male Stonechat Pheasant heard calling.

18/05/2018 14.15 - 18.35

Came up here after my visit to Strinesdale.

Long-tailed Tits, Nuthatch collecting food and a Grey Heron along the Brook from The Clarence to the turning to the cottages on Broadbent Lane.

3 Cuckoos in the sheep field by the cottages - all grey birds. Not sure if it was two males trying to court a female or a female trying to see off a courting pair. A male called and flew into one of the hawthorns near the lane as I turned onto it from the footpath by the cottages. While I was failing to digi-bin it a female's bubbling call came from the left, back towards the plantation and the bird flew off. Shortly afterwards a bird flew into a distant tree, there was more cuckoo-ing and bubbling then one bird followed another across to a stone wall where they were joined by the third bird. At that point two birds flew right to a dead tree where one perched normally, with the second bird behind it, facing the opposite way with wings drooped and tail cocked. As I was moving to try to get a better place for a photo the third bird again flew over and two of the birds disappeared behind the sycamores to the right of the track. The remaining bird eventually flew uphill to the southern end of the plantation and cuckoo-ed from there. I'm pretty sure that when the third bird first got involved I'd heard bubbling calls in the direction from which it came, which makes me think the two birds flying behind the sycamore were female.

Also along this stretch 2 male Pheasants, 4 juvenile Mistle Thrushes, a male Sparrowhawk and 9 Lapwings in the fields above Tanner's Business Centre.

Made my way through the obstacle course of the conifer plantation to check on the Bog Beacon. Good showing in its' primary location but only a few specimens in the second spot.

Juvenile Song Thrush in Chew Piece Plantation. Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, Wood Pigeons, Great Tits and Blackbirds also seen. Several Willow Warblers and 1 ChiffChaff heard.


Followed the old railway bed up Chew Valley, crossing over to the road to head up to Chew Reservoir.
4 or 5 Red Grouse advised against this but I stuck to it and added a male Ring Ouzel, 2 Common Buzzards and a pair of Teal in the stream bed at the top, which probably explains the single duckling piping away several small waterfalls down stream.

The Teal relocated to the reservoir, joining 2 Canada Geese, 2 Curlews, another Cuckoo, male Grey and Pied Wagtails and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. A Golden Plover and a Wren were heard but not seen. On the way down the only bird of interest between the reservoir and Charnel Clough was a sun-bathing Red Grouse. Lower down the old paper dump had 15 Mallard (4 M 1F 10 ducklings) 10 Teal (1 M 1F 8 ducklings) 1 Magpie and 1 Willow Warbler. A male Cuckoo was still calling somewhere around the conifers as I headed back for the bus.

Yeah he was up here filming the breeding waders for Springwatch, with the wardens and site manager. I said hello briefly, but wasnât able to make it up top that day sadly.

I can confirm Chris Packham, roosted at the Old Bell Inn Delph fed by my daughter apparently travelling the length of the UK filming for some new nature programme.  Good record!

First Swallow of the year for me.

Greylag on the res today in amongst the Canada Geese too. Same Cormorant and Oystercatcher still there.

-- Edited by James Minchin on Wednesday 21st of February 2018 05:20:39 PM

Lots of Red Grouse on the way to Chew Reservior today.

7 crossbills  3 male and 4 female  in group of mixed finches approx. 14 including greenfinches and goldfinches. Saw twice once at 11.15 and again same group at 13.30

From the road down to reservoir in the larches in front of car park at Binn Green(which is closed to Public due work on Dam commencing this weeks for 3 months!)

Also saw two dark pheasant and a flock of 20+ Goldcrest and Merlin.

-- Edited by Terry Sykes on Monday 6th of November 2017 03:48:05 PM

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 6th of November 2017 04:33:29 PM

Thanks for the info and history Rob, there were definitely 2 or 3 individuals on Friday. I've also been told they are classed as a mechanistic mutant of the common pheasant.

Darrenjruddick wrote:

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Looks like an escaped Mikado Pheasant

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 Thanks Darren