Low Moor and Oakenshaw Wildlife

This weekend I thought I would see what local birds were about in the Low Moor & Oakenshaw areas. The sites I walked to were Raw Nook Nr, Caldene fields, Toad Holes Beck and Harold park lake. In total I…

Today I walked up to Harold Park lake. Apart from my exercise the main reason was I knew the lake would be frozen thus forcing gulls to stand on the ice! Therefore if any migrant gulls that had been ringed…

Every wildlife garden should have one!. What I hear you ask? The beautiful Firethorn/Pyracantha shrub. Why? Well there’s the lovely white flowers in spring that attract many bees and hoverfly species and then bright red berries feed hungry birds in…

Yesterday there was little vis-mig due to the blanket fog. The little bit I did produced 3 skeins of Pink-footed geese moving N/W I could hear them but couldn’t see them in the fog. I then walked to Raw Nook…

Wow! what a day at the vis-mig point. Wood Pigeon were on the move again and the conditions were just right cold with good visibility up to 20 miles. It was an unprecedented morning !!! With my previous WP record…

It’s been a busy few days at the watch point at Caldene fields. Favourable weather conditions allowed winter thrushes to take advantage and arrive in the UK on mass. The influx started here on the 13/10 with 515 Fieldfare and…

Most of my time at the moment is taken up with visible migration. Especially as moth numbers have reduced as autumn progresses. In fact the last moths were caught on 29/9 and included a Barred Sallow and 2 Lunar Underwings…

Yesterday I had I received some interesting news from someone who regularly visit Low Moor Banks. They told me that they had a conversation with someone at the site who stated he had seen a Barn Owl sitting on a…

Iv’e noticed for a number of years now that our area is a bit of a magnet for Goldfinches. There are many open fields with seeds for the species to take advantage of like the Thistle species. In Britain, the Goldfinch is…