29th September

Todays birds included 6 Barn Owls, 2 Shorties, 1 Hen, 7 Buzzards, 1 Merlin, 1 Peregrine, lots of Kestrels, 50 Pink-footed Geese, 5 Snipe, 50+ Siskin, 1 Redpoll, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Ravens, 1 Great Spot Pecker and a possible Leo seen briefly in the wood.

Silmarillion

Reading Tolkien's Silmarillion again for the 22nd time, just got to the battle between Morgoth and Fingolfin so found another great drawing of the event above.

28th September

Local walk over Roils Head area produced a nice male Stonechat, several Long-tailed Tits, a Common Buzzard at Pellon and later on 5 Buzzards soaring together over Wheatley Valley the most Ive ever seen over this site.

25th September

More owls tonight with 6 Barns, 4 Shorties and 1 Tawny, female Hen, 2 Buzzards, 1 Raven, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Goosander, 2 Snipe and 1 Tufted Duck.

22nd and 23rd Sept

The weekend produced just one Hen on Saturday, also 5 Crossbills in the plantation with 20 Siskin, 7 Barn Owls were in view at the same time on Sunday and 6 Shorties were also present. Other species included Buzzard, Kestrel, Grey Partridge, Raven, GBBGull, Snipe, Curlew etc.

18th September

A rather windy day out with AC, still we managed 3 Hens, 1 Merlin that constantly hovered in the strong wind, 4 Buzzards, 1 Sparrowhawk, loads of Kestrels, just single Barn and Short-eared Owls and 2 Ravens.

16th September

Another good raptor day with 3 Hens, 4 Merlins, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzards, several Kestrels, 4 Barn Owls, 5 Shorties, 2 Ravens and 4 Goosanders.

15th September

A good day out produced 3 Hens, ad male, female and juv male, 6 Buzzards, Merlin, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, loads of Kestrels, 4 Barn Owls, 6 Shorties, 4 Ravens, 21 Pink-footed Geese, 2 Oycs, 2 Curlews and 100s of Meadow Pipits.

Last 3 days

Two nights on the moors produced a juv male Hen and adult female on Sunday followed by an adult male and a ringtail on Monday. Also a Merlin put on a great show chasing pipits that the harrier flushed. Usual 3 or 4 Shorties kicking about and a Little Grebe and a Common Sand on one of the reservoirs. Today 2 Whinchats and a Spotted Flycatcher at Roils Head.

5th Sept evening

Dashed out with Dave to Ringstone Edge for a Knot and a Whimbrel, unfortunately there was no sign of the Whimbrel but the summer plumaged Knot was still present.

5th September

A Spotted Flycatcher was found at Roils Head today, only other bird of note was a Sparrowhawk.

2nd September

Had an hour or so at a local watch point, not much just 4 Buzzards, 2 Ravens and 4 Kestrels. Then Dave picked me up and went to have a look at Brian's Ruff at Fly Flats, nice to see one in Calderdale. Next stop our usual spot produced 3 Barn Owls, 1 Leo and 3 Shorties.

1st September

Todays birds included a juvenile Marsh Harrier, 5 Barn Owls, 2 Shorties and a brief Leo.