Tag Archives: sparrowhawk

Bird Watch – See What You Missed!! by Darren Shepherd

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Grey Heron. (Source: J J Harrison)

Well, the Jubilee picnic is over and its time for the latest installment of bird watch. The bird watch event at the picnic, didn’t last very long I’m afraid, as other activities took centre stage; we’ll improve the signage next time.  Let me know below,  if you are interested in coming along for an hour or so and I’ll organize another.

During the short space of time that the Jubilee picnic bird watch was running, we managed to see some exciting birds. It started with a ‘sparrowhawk’ overhead at 2.20pm spotted by a Mr B Shepherd (my Father).  A common buzzard could be seen soaring over the “High Royds” area around the same time. Continue reading →

Bird Watch – Winter Visitors by Darren Shepherd

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Goldcrest - (source John Smith, Halstead & District Photographic Society)

Bird life in the Park this January has been quiet, although there are still a few birds about, including some winter visitors from Scandinavia and Russia. The commonest of these visitors is the redwing (turdus iliacus),  which can be seen in the Park occasionally; most obviously at night on migration south, when its “stuuf” piping call can be clearly heard.

The second ‘visitor’ is the fieldfare (turdus pilaris) a slightly larger member of the thrush family which has a blueish plumage,  in comparison to our resident mistle thrushes Continue reading →

Bird Watch – Calling Curlews, by Darren Shepherd

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Curlew Flying - (Source: Scotlandincolour.com)

Night and day, the wildlife and birds of the Park live their lives and have their ‘adventures’, and it is worthwhile taking time to slowdown to their pace and just observe.

Today, 9th January, a red kite, with no wing tags, circled overhead.  Many kites have wing tags of different colours,  the left wing gives the place they fledged, and the right the year.   As ours has no tags,  they have either fallen off, or, it is wild.  The kite seems to be in the park regularly now, although, as today, it is frequently harassed by one of the local crows – these Continue reading →

Bird Watching in the Park

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Little Ringed Plover - (Source, Steve Leo Evans, Flickr)

Darren Shepherd of Nethercliffe Road, is a keen ornithologist, and has left this fascinating comment on the ecology page, which deserves greater prominence.

“I would like to add a few more birds to the list of those seen in the Park. The rarest of the bunch, in the past few years, has been the successful breeding of Little Ringed Plover on the building site.”  This is a wading bird, that likes gravel pits and river shingle beds.  “Another wading bird that I suspect has bred in the area is the Oystercatcher” a bird that is regularly found on the coast but has started to move inland.  “Another regular bird is the Redshank“, which likes damp habitats such as salt marshes and flood meadows.  The sightings of these birds would link in perfectly with the fact that the lower slope of Clapper Brow and Great Brow have many natural springs, and the land is quite boggy – the Kel of Kelcliffe, means spring.  When Crompton Parkinsons were in residence they controlled this water flow as best they could, but over the years nature has reasserted itself. Continue reading →