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 recorded 33 different species. All the species I found were to be expected during the winter period in the areas covered.
What was interesting was the species I didn’t find. Whilst the Greenfinch is sadly now uncommon in these areas a few year ago I discovered a local breeding site just off Cleckheaton Road above Ciba. Now I searched this area but no birds were found suggesting that they may have moved ‘ somewhere’ for the winter with a view to return to breed in the spring.
There were however, some interesting points I noticed. A high count of 21 Magpies and 5 Stock dove were at Caldene fields. Bullfinches were very evident at TH Beck. Only one Chaffinch was found again suggesting some may have moved for the winter and a good count of 8 Blackbirds were at Caldene fields suggesting some were immigrants.
