Oxenhope... 2012-09-22
Seven Images all Copyright 2012
Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Saturday 22 September 2012
Counting period: 6:00-17:10
Weather: wind NW0, cloud-cover 0/8, visibility 120000m, temperature 0 ℃, becoming N F1 then E F1 and SE F3. open sky, cu then stratocu before cirrostratus, rising 13degC, QNH 1020 rising 1021 then steady 1020
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber til 1030, Lester Ward, (Rodney Procter briefly)
Moving Birds:
Cormorant 4 -
Golden Plover 8 -
alba wagtail sp. 5 -
Pink-footed Goose * 13 -
Lapwing 13 -
Blackbird * 1 -
goose sp. * 2 -
Snipe * 4 -
Song Thrush * 1 -
Canada Goose - 6
Black-headed Gull 120 -
Mistle Thrush 25 -
Goosander 2 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 200 -
Starling 6+ 22
Red Kite * 2 -
Sterna spec. * - 1
Chaffinch 4 -
Marsh Harrier * 1 -
Stock Dove 1 -
Greenfinch 10 -
Hen Harrier * 1 -
Woodpigeon 21 -
Goldfinch 30 -
Sparrowhawk 4 -
Skylark * 20 -
Siskin * 19 -
Common Buzzard * 23 -
Swallow * 1970 -
Crossbill 2 -
Kestrel 1 -
House Martin 129 -
Red Admiral 4 -
Merlin 1 -
Meadow Pipit 428 -
Peregrine * 2 -
Grey Wagtail 1 -
Totals: 3107 individuals, 37 species, 11:10 hours
Present: Robin 1
Comments: Hard white frost, with measured air temp 0degC at wp. Valuable time wasted waiting for the windscreen to defrost. Starting off relatively quiet but a big increase in Mistle Thrush moving high a blackbird single Song Thrush were interesting. Lots of very high siskin contacts on the edge of perception and later skylark similar. Despite much long and high scanning, only a single skein of pinks detected going out exceptionally, exceptionally high SE. Much later, large raptors detected in the roof, first one (might have missed some initially tho through especially unsuccessful attempts to locate and photograph a few, so soon aborted that!), then several BZ all soaring broadfornt generally SW with occasional glides and kettles and a new common buzzard record set for us. Max kettle for us a diffuse eight. Some high interaction between individuals and sp noted on several occasions as passing through. Mid pm, mixed hirundines, mainly swallows started to flood E, SE and later with a few south...... unid'd distant large bop's bz sp (3), SW.... All in haste and might not be complete.
Dave
posted by Dave Barker at
9/23/2012 06:17:00 pm
3 Comments:
Fab BOP passage later in day Dave.Sorry I missed it - as you know I was "up the aisle" giving my daughter away. A good day for everyone !!!!
A phenomenal session and great atmospheric pics (pun intended!)
Thanks for that Nigel and Howard, just sorry there are no real snaps, they were so very high in very difficult multi featured sky that I was having grave difficulty finding them as they wernt naked, in fact before I could get onto most, Lester was finding more,and yet more which all had to be checked out, the scopes were the only way to avoid loosing any. In any case two lots of eyes are always better than one. Even then I suspect some would have gone over before we realised they were up there, not to mention the period that i was messing around with the confounded camera. Out of interest, the folks out doing vis at the same time as us at adjacent sites, same day managed good counts in the same time slot as well. MC, Harden, Hudds got supurb 29, and over at Winter Hill they got about 20 in the same period. Dont know for certain, but suspect they came over the Norwegian bridge the previous day or even part overnight, but interesting that us in the Pennines were the first to connect..... thats so far as I know?.... but I suppose most folks dont bother too much re common buzzards. Hey up Howard lad, glad it went all ok and that it was a good day.... spacemaster still performing well. Didnt like to ring you this morning with the nes that it was "crap"..... the early sky was something else tho and wouldnt have missed it for the world.
D.
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