Excellent morning loop around the moor with much evidence of migration.

A very large flock of mixed passerines on the eastern side, with the hillside being alive with small birds. It was impossible to count or identify all the birds but Goldfinch (25+), Blue Tit (20+) and Chiffchaff (10+) were most evident. Mixed in were 7 Mistle Thrush, a few Great Tit, 4 Bullfinch, 3 Starling, 1 Whitethroat and a Green woodpecker that seemed to be moving south.

c40 Swallow and 3 House Martin.

No less than 10 Kestrel in the air together on the updraught on the western side of the moor, 1 Sparrowhawk and the star bird was a Hobby that zipped straight through.

2 Raven, 1 Jay, a 2nd Green Woodpecker and 3 Wheatear around the firing range area.

-- Edited by Roger Halsey on Thursday 16th of August 2018 02:45:38 PM

Walked a long circuit from Redisher Wood up the Red Brook valley, over Holcombe Moor to Peel Tower and down Holcombe Old Road this morning. Just about everything has stopped singing on the high ground so birds a bit harder to find now. Some birds of interest though:

At least 4 Raven, 4 Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk.

2 Little Owl in different locations.

2 Great Spotted Woodpecker.

2 Wheatear, 2 Stonechat with fledged young and a Lesser Redpoll.

1 Grey Wagtail.

Swallow starting to gather in small flocks with maybe 60 birds seen. A few Swift and House Martin too.

Did an extensive walk around the moors and the Moorbottom rd area this afternoon just before the heavens opened. Apart from the usual's the only thing of note were the increased linnet numbers (I saw 8) and It was nice to see two newly fledged Wheatear's looking very healthy, being chaperoned by their parents. Both looked very strong in flight and alert. One posed nicely for a photo in front of me before being angrily moved on by its mother 

Late report from yesterday evening 6pm till 9pm with Simon Adams 

No sight or sound of any Cuckoos

X 5 Linnets, x1 grasshopper warbler reeling approx halfway down Moorbottom Rd, lots of Wheatear, meadow pipit & skylarks about, only spotted two stonechat's though, their numbers are way down on last year 

Starling flocks Turing into small murmurations now, at least a thousand plus. 

X2 kestrels, x1 buzzard X2 green woodpecker 

X1 little owl (in a different part of the Moor from the two pairs I already know of ) 

Curlew calling

Possible male merlin on Crowthorne side too 

 

-- Edited by Martin Loftus on Friday 25th of May 2018 11:00:40 AM

Only from Moorbottom Rd,top to bottom

4 Wheatear

4 Stonechat

5 Meadow Pipit

6 Linnet

2 Ring Ouzel

4 Swallow

Skylark

Green Woodpecker(giving great views)

Raven

Pheasant

Kestrel

Curlew heard

Not a single Tit seen all the way

Highlights from a 4 hour circuit round Redisher Wood and Holcombe Moor:

Curlew and my first site record of Snipe singing.

1 Sparrowhawk,  2 Kestrel and a Raven.

3 reeling Grasshopper Warbler, with one being seen well.

Single Garden Warbler, with lots of Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

4 Wheatear. Abundant Meadow Pipit and Skylark singing on the high ground.

Green Woodpecker.

Little Owl.

 

Birds of note from a morning walk round Moorbottom Road and over Holcombe Moor:

2, probably 3 Ring Ouzel on the steep west side of the Moor. They then flew west to the opposite side of the valley.

10 Wheatear.

Single  Goldcrest and Swallow.

2 Curlew including one in bubbling display flight.

2 Grey Heron.

Single Little Owl.

At least 15 each of Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

 

11am till 3pm Stonechat x 7 Moorbottom Wheatear x 9 Moorbottom Kestrels x 3 Buzzard x 3 Raven x 2 Lots of Skylark Lots of Meadow Pipit Reed Bunting x 1 Curlew heard, not seen Green Woodpecker heard, not seen

4 Ring Ouzel on this mornings Holcombe BBS Squares, all on the Red Brook boulder fields ...2 Red Grouse also at the top of the Brook.

Excellent year for singing Skylark's on the Moors up here ..Best numbers I have recorded.. 

Evening walk with V. Irving ... 6 Ring Ouzel, all on the sunny,  West facing hillside above Moorbottom Road .. 

Did an evening loop on the mountain bike along Moorbottom rd. Didn't take my bins, just my camera, plus had to split my attention on concentrating on any birds I saw out of the corner of my eye and not crashing my bike into stone walls .

Signs of spring starting to appear. 

X4 male wheatear, some were being very vocal and displaying. 

X7 stonechat, mixture of males and females, males seemed to be fighting each other whilst the females were all collecting nest material. 

X4 medow pipits 

And one very vocal green woodpecker 

Best birds from a 1 hour walk round Redisher Woods:

2 green woodpecker, apparently calling against one another, pair of  Goosander and a jay.

Walk from Redisher Lane through the wood of that name, and up Moor Bottom Road as far as the Red Brook Clough - just about all in GM I think.

In the woods, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Dipper all in evidence, as well as the usual common tits, with a Tawny Owl on the northern edge near the moor.
In the open valley, a Green Woodpecker was yaffling and glimpsed a couple of times at some distance, a pair of Raven were circling, and a Stonechat male was hopping around in a tall tree, unusually, near one of the ruins.

2 Green Woodpecker and a Kestrel this morning, and a Stonechat yesterday.

My first site record of a Kingfisher in Redisher Wood yesterday. It was by the pond in the upper part of the wood.

Roger,

Taking a friend walking on the moor area a little owl and I not seen one for months ! where is it.

Mike Horwood

Highlights from the last two mornings over the moor:

Little Owl yesterday.

Sparrowhawk flushing a Green Woodpecker out of a tree today.

2 Redwing today.

Small movement of Corvids, mainly Jackdaw and Rook, and Meadow Pipit South.

kestrel on both days.

Walk along Moorbottom Road to Crowthorne produced a grand total of 21 Stonechat (some in Lancs) this afternoon..A good year for them, mainly seen in the Bracken patches.

Also along the west facing edges Wheatear, 5 Raven, 8 Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzard and great views of a Merlin coming out of Red Brook and chasing Meadow Pipits over White Hill

Full Moorbottom rd loop over to Edgeworth this afternoon. Fairly quiet on the Holcombe side of Red Brook yet the other side was absolutely teaming with life along the path. 

x9 Kestrels 

x4 Adult wheatear (2m 2f)

x6 Stonechat (2 adults 4 juvenile) 

x20 plus meadow pipits (mixture of adults and juveniles) 

x20 plus juvenile goldfinch 

x6 Carrion crow

x1 buzzard

x1 green woodpecker (heard only) 

And the star bird of the day for me was a single female Whinchat, a first for me in this area 

 

singing willow warbler

singing blackcap

Kestrels

Raven

House Martins

Two pairs of Stonechat one feeding young

three singing Skylarks

two pair of Wheatear

three  singing Linnets

lots of Meadow Pipits

Highlights of a 3 hour walk round the moor this morning- Cuckoo still calling at top end of firing range, pair Stonechat, 1 Wheatear, 3 Curlew and 10 Lapwing. Also post breeding flock c120 Starling including lots of juveniles, and Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Meadow Pipit and Skylark still singing.

Cuckoo currently on Moorbottom Rd adjacent to sapling woods getting heavily mobbed by a load of Jackdaws 

2 Ring Ouzel near Paddy's Pond and a Cuckoo by Redisher Woods this evening 

Just attempted a loop of Moorbottom rd on my mountain bike yet had to take the biggest detour ever around the top of the moors due to the MOD using the firing range. I'm glad in a way as I came upon a quarry just off Crowthorne rd on the Edgworth side of the moor and spotted a pair of ring ouzel foraging in it   along with a pair of brambling. 

Lots of wildlife seen today, of note:

X1 green woodpecker heard calling from the trees behind the public carpark on Lumb car rd

X1 wheatear along Moorbottom rd

X1 golden plover up on the tops 

Numerous meadow pipits and skylarks up on the tops (skylark in photo)

X2 ring ouzel 

X2 brambling

I heared Curlew calling from a few fields as I was cycling back to Affetside too