Low Moor and Oakenshaw Wildlife

Received an email from James Bass who visited Raw Nook Nr on 15/4 and was struck by the numbers of singing warblers.  His counts were 3 Willow Warblers + 8 Chiffchaff + 6 Blackcaps all good counts.  My first thoughts were the reserve given it’s size would struggle to accommodate all those territories.

So on the 17/4 I did some counts to see if some of these birds were passage birds.  My counts were 4 Willow Warblers + 4 Chiffchaff ( possibly some females may have been nest building) + 4 Blackcaps 3 M+1pair suggesting most of the birds have stayed.  I still have the same views and believe within the next week or so some of these birds will have moved on both to find a new territory and a mate.

One Swallow circled Caldene Fields before drifting S/W and 3 House Martins were back over there nest site at Raw Nook Nr

Following on from my sighting of a C Buzzard drifting N/E on the 10/4 Stuart Tordoff emailed to say he had seen three Common Buzzards circling over Woodlands/M606  slowly drifting off eastwards.

Long Tailed Tit appear to be doing very well in our recording area

A male Blackcap and a Willow Warbler both probable passage birds were at Caldene Fields this morning.

Yesterday at Raw Nook Nr pond I has an excellent count of at least 35 Common Toads of which many were copulating. Also the sunshine brought out the first Comma butterfly and 2 peacocks were also noted.

This morning 8 Herring Gulls were feeding at Caldene Fields, which is unusual to have feeding birds and then late after noon a Common Buzzard flew N/E over the fields.

Herring Gulls

A check this morning for summer migrants revealed 2 additional Chiffchaffs at Toad Holes Beck bringing the number of birds to 3 and a new Chiffchaff was at Raw Nook Nr.

A pair of Tufted Duck ( which have probably come from nearby Harold Park) were on the middle pond at Toad Holes Beck.  Also at the pond was an early bloom of Marsh Marigolds which was a welcome sight and two male Song Thrushes filled the air with song as they claimed territories.

A male Goosander flew S/W over Raw Nook Nr.

This morning I did some vismigging at Caldene Fields watchpoint.  There was a steady trickle of returning Fieldfares 103 moving N and 118 Meadow pipits moved N/N/W.  A count of Bullfinches at Toad Holes beck revealed 9 of which 4 were males…an excellent count.

Found a returning Chiffchaff this morning singing from an old nest site at Toad Holes Beck…Spring has arrived!

Also at the site were 4 Song Thrushes which is a good count.  A pair of Coot have taken up residence at the middle pond which is recovering from recent pollution.

A pair of Canada Geese like every Spring are moving around the local area looking for a suitable nest site.

A Buzzard was calling east of Toad Holes Beck

And at last Frog spawn has appeared in the local ponds.

Pre – Frog Spawn…

As Spring gets ever nearer it has been rewarding noticing early nesting birds like the Jackdaws that are collecting mud for nest building at Caldene Fields and then leaving to the S/W.  Also a pair of Collard Doves have been observed nest building as well as a number of Magpies have been collecting nesting material.

A party of 48 Whooper Swans came in from the N/E at 10.40 this morning and left to the S/W over Caldene Fields. A record count for this species.

Yesterday I saw my first Queen Bumblebee at Caldene Fields looking for a nest site…

I also received an email from Phil who saw a single Buzzard 11.49am flying South East over Bailiffe Bridge towards Chain Bar Roundabout being buzzed by corvid.

This is quite interesting as the Common Buzzard bred for the first time last year in south Bradford and research suggests radio-tracked individuals do move away from their nest in the first autumn, and then come back to the nest in the following spring, seemingly to check for potential breeding sites.

Is this a young last years bird?

Numbers of Coots always increase during winter at nearby Harold Park and I suspect some of these birds are from Toad Holes Beck.  So it was interesting to note this morning that 5 Coots have now return to the latter site.  Also at Toad Holes Beck were a pair of Grey wagtail which hopefully will bred in the area.

A pair of Canada Geese appeared at the pond at Raw Nook as usual at this time of the year looking for a possible nest site.