Skylark |
Tree
Pipit |
Meadow
Pipit |
SKY
LARK
Alauda arvensis
Resident/migrant breeder and passage migrant.
Soil Hill held up to three birds in January, and by the middle of February had eight singing males, but by then 10 were singing at Queensbury, and up to 28 on Highroad Well Moor. Records then came from nearly all the moorland areas and their peripheries right through the summer. Two pairs on Round Hill and a pair at Thornton Moor Reservoir is grossly understating the true breeding picture.
Good numbers of birds were seen on migration in autumn at Thornton Moor Reservoir, with a total of 114, and daily maxima of 30 at Soil Hill, and 18 over Denholme Clough. A lone bird was still singing on Otley Chevin on 18th October, whilst the only November record concerned one at John o’ Gaunt’s Reservoir, and up to three were on Soil Hill in early December.
TREE
PIPIT
Anthus trivialis
Migrant breeder/passage visitor.
The first arrival was at Thornton Moor Reservoir on 21st April. Nest building was noted on Otley Chevin on 6th May, where breeding was subsequently proved, and two pairs were feeding young at Timble Ings in June.
One observer commented
that numbers were well down on previous years between Norwood Edge and
Sword Point Plantation. Singing birds were reported from Sandwith Moor
Plantation, Sun Inn (Norwood) and St Ives.
The usual scattering of return migrants materialised, with between one
and four birds at sites such as Allerton, Thornton Moor Reservoir, Denholme
Clough, Doe Park and Cold Edge Dams. The last sighting was of four birds
at Thornton Moor Reservoir on 3rd October.
MEADOW PIPIT Anthus pratensis
Common resident/migrant breeder and passage visitor.
During the first winter period, single-figure records came from a variety of locations, including Elland Gravel Pits, Flappit Spring and Burley Moor. Twenty five were seen at Beckfoot Farm in February. March provided more sightings as birds returned to breeding habitat, with over 400 birds passing Thornton Moor Reservoir in four days. This location again featured strongly in April, and over 3400 birds were seen. Counts of 1170 on 11th and 950 the following day were particularly notable. Many breeding reports were received for what is probably our commonest moorland breeding bird.
Return migration was under way in August, with day totals of up to 280 birds at Thornton Moor Reservoir, but the main push here came over the following two months. Out of a total number of 7700 birds seen, day totals were never less than 100, were between 400 and 1000 on five dates, and peaked at an impressive 2550 birds on 19th September. Elsewhere, three-figure counts included up to 400 at Cold Edge Dams, 200 at Soil Hill, 360 at Luddenden Dean and 720 at Denholme Clough.
Some birds were still
present at the year end, notably 60 on Soil Hill.
WATER
PIPIT
Anthus spinoletta
Scarce but regular winter/passage visitor.
At Marley Sewage Works, a single was recorded on 21st and 27th February (KM).
ROCK
PIPIT Anthus
petrosus
Scarce passage visitor.
A single bird was seen at Chelker Reservoir on 26th September (JLT).
YELLOW
WAGTAIL
Motacilla flava
Increasingly uncommon migrant breeder/passage visitor.
The first sighting was a single at Thornton Moor Reservoir on 12th April.
Otley Wetland, once
a main site, yielded only one bird all year, a male on 18th April, and
this tends to confirm the gloomy picture painted by the fortunes of this
species locally. Knotford Nook barely managed any better, with two on
10th May and one on 23rd.
Autumn passage was also thin, with only two birds at Thornton Moor Reservoir,
and one, the year’s last, at Fewston Reservoir on 22nd September.
GREY
WAGTAIL
Motacilla cinerea.
Resident migrant breeder and winter visitor.
This year there were 108 widespread records received, with the Wharfe and Washburn Valleys contributing to many of them. The highest totals were eight at Denholme Clough on 19th September, and nine at Thornton Moor Reservoir on 9th October. Breeding was proven at Beaverdyke, Lindley Wood and Leeshaw Reservoirs, Low Dam, Gallows Hill, Strid Woods and Denholme Clough.
PIED
WAGTAIL
Motacilla alba.
Spring passage was light, with no more than 12 birds on any one day. Breeding
was well reported, and adults were seen feeding young at many sites.
Autumn passage was distinctly better. At the principal watchpoint, Thornton Moor Reservoir, over 170 birds were seen, with a daily maximum of 40 birds. This level of daily movement was also recorded at Denholme Clough, but a gathering of 100 birds on flooded fields at Silsden on 25th September was exceptional. The highest total reported from Marley Sewage Works was 40 birds, but this probably represented under-recording.
Roost counts came in the form of 50 at Ilkley Bus Station in November, 60 at Bingley Library in January, a minimum of 75 at King Cross in December, and at least 350 in Leeds Road, Bradford, in February.