Grasshopper
Warbler |
Sedge
Warbler |
Reed
Warbler |
GRASSHOPPER
WARBLER Locustella naevia
Uncommon passage migrant and occasional breeder
As in 2005, not all the claims made for this species were verified by the required description, and the only accepted record is of a bird heard, and seen briefly, on the edge of Baildon Moor on 24th and 26th April (PCK, SR).
SEDGE
WARBLER Acrocephalus schoenobaenus.
Migrant breeder/passage visitor.
The first arrival was seen at Marley Sewage Works on 28th April, a typical date and location, which figured again on 16th May, when there were at least ten singing males there. By this time, birds had also returned to Otley Wetland, and successful breeding was subsequently established there, with six young being ringed. It also took place at Stockbridge, where food-carrying was noted as late as August, and at Pool Paper Mills (a new location, following changes to the recording area), which recorded juveniles in May. For the third successive year, breeding was strongly suspected, but not proved, at Fewston Reservoir, whilst the access restrictions imposed at Marley meant the site couldn’t be revisited to check on breeding activity. In summary, the species is probably maintaining its presence in the area, but without the anticipated expansion in breeding.
Reports also came from irregular sites, at Weecher and Silsden Reservoir, and it will be interesting to see if there are developments at either in future years. There were no records of passage birds, and birds on territory at Stockbridge on 16th August represented the final, and untypically early, report.
REED
WARBLER
Acrocephalus scirpaceus
Scarce passage visitor/local and occasional breeder.
The creation of the phragmites bed at Otley Wetland means this is now a reliable location for the species, and, with the exception of one report, all the 2006 records came from there.
At least one singing male had returned by 8th May, and up to three birds were heard mid-month, and on three days in June. On the 29th an additional pair was seen carrying food, and this was until then the only indication that breeding had taken place. However, subsequent ringing activity accounted for 12 juvenile birds, indicating that at least some of these had been raised in the area.
Song continued to be heard on three days in July, but the only record here after 18th July, was a bird, presumably on migration, on 3rd September. However, two days earlier Stockbridge Nature Reserve had broken Otley’s monopoly with another obviously relocating bird.
LESSER
WHITETHROAT
Sylvia curruca
Increasingly uncommon migrant breeder/ passage visitor.
Whilst there were four times as many records as in 2005, only four reports of five birds confirm the species’ continuing decline in the area.
The only reliable locations now appear to be in the south, where birds were seen at Toad Holes Beck on 6th May and 9th September (two birds), and at nearby Raw Nook on 3rd June . The year’s first, and most intriguing, record, however, was a bird seen in the centre of Bradford on 28th April (MVP).
COMMON
WHITETHROAT
Sylvia communis
Migrant breeder/ passage visitor.
Whilst numbers are clearly down on previous years, and including as recently as 2002, the decline highlighted in last year’s Report seems at least to have been halted during 2006.
Fifty-six records was, by current standards, a fairly respectable number, as was the 21 locations involved and the probable total number of birds (including family parties) at around 50. It is clear, however, there is no longer a particular stronghold for the species in the area, and the maximum number of adults seen was three, at Marley Sewage Works and Shibden Head in May, which month, as is so often the case, provided many of the sightings.
The first arrival, at Stockbridge on 23rd April, was on a fairly typical date, but the last record, of two birds in Cullingworth on 25th September, was noteworthy for its lateness and for being an unusual garden observation. Other individuals seen in August and September at Paul Clough, Gallows Hill, Doe Park Reservoir, Bradup and Glovershaw were presumably on migration.
The health of the species locally is, of course, best measured by breeding success, and, whilst on a par with last year, this was significantly down on four years ago. Proved breeding success was reported from Stockbridge, where two young were raised, and Baildon Green, where a family of three juveniles were being fed in June. A bird was also seen at a probable nest-site at Marley.
GARDEN
WARBLER
Sylvia borin
Migrant breeder/ passage visitor.
As in 2005, the first arrival was recorded at Marley Sewage Works, but on the much more typical date of 28th April. Equally typical was the main surge of birds in the following month, producing 60% of the year’s records, and the highest count of eight birds was made on 11th May in a one mile stretch of the Washburn Valley between Norwood Bottom and Dob Park Bridge.
Most of the records originated from the Washburn and Wharfedale, but other areas represented included St. Ives, Bingley, Shibden Head, Stockbridge and Harden Moor. There were no visible migration records, apart from an apparent passage bird at Stockbridge on 23rd July, which was the surprisingly early final report.
Apparent nest building was seen in Strid Wood as early as 4th May, and singing males were heard here, at Stockbridge and in the Washburn Valley, but the only indication of successful breeding was a bird seen food-carrying at Strid Wood in June.
Migrant breeder and passage/winter visitor.
Once again, well-recorded, and from some 40 widespread locations, slightly up on last year.
The increasing presence of wintering birds makes assessment of the arrival and departure dates of migrants difficult. It is likely, however, that the first arrival was a bird in song at Otley Wetland on 25th March, and the final departing birds singles at Knotford Nook and Denholme Clough on 2nd October. As ever, the main influx took place in April and May, when there were many reports of singing males, and there were good aggregate counts at several locations. Up to nine birds were at St. Ives at the end of April, ten there in May, the same number in Strid Wood in June, and thirteen in the Gallows Hill area of Otley in the following month.
Wintering birds comprised singles in gardens in Bingley, Burley and Riddlesden in January and February, and, at the other end of the year, December records from Bingley, Riddlesden, and Stockbridge (where up to two birds had been seen from mid-October), and a bird in an Ilkley garden in November. Autumn visible migration watches in the south of the area accounted for about 28 birds.
Juveniles seen at Gallows Hill in July provided the only tangible evidence of breeding success, though the species’ status in the area appears unchanged.
WOOD
WARBLER
Phylloscopus sibilatrix
Migrant breeder and occasional passage migrant.
The apparent reduction in numbers mentioned in last year’s Report continued in 2006. Only six locations were involved, the former stronghold of Strid Wood, Shipley Glen, Dob Park Wood, St. Ives, Heber’s Ghyll Wood and Black Hills (near Cottingley), this last being a new site for the species. A day’s total of four birds was logged only once, at Dob Park Wood, where there were two pairs on 19th May, and the likelihood is that only 11 singing males were present in the entire area.
Evidence of breeding activity came only from Heber’s Ghyll, and there were no sightings of any sort after 17th June, at Strid Wood, where the first bird had been found only just over seven weeks previously, on 25th April.
CHIFFCHAFF
Phylloscopus collibyta
Common migrant breeder and passage/winter visitor.
The bird noted at Marley Sewage Works at the end of 2005 was seen again on 3rd January, and what was presumably the same one intermittently to 20th March. Another overwintering bird was seen at Otley Wetland on 22nd January and 5th March. There was only one report in the second winter period: a bird discovered near Dowley Gap on 19th December.
Surprisingly, there were no definite returnees in March, although the picture may be confused by birds overwintering, and the first influx didn’t occur until 1st April, when birds were seen at Shipley Glen and elsewhere, followed by many reports throughout the month at widespread locations. Singles predominated, but six were seen and heard on several occasions in the lower Washburn Valley, with seven being reported from there in May, and eight in June. This, together with the same number at St. Ives in August, was the year’s highest count, though one observer reported good numbers present throughout the Denton Estate.
As normal, visible migration records were confined almost entirely to the south of the area, and passage appeared relatively light, with the 27 birds reported well down on last year. The last departing bird was seen on 2nd October at Knotford Nook, somewhat earlier than normal.
The number of singing males clearly on territory wasn’t reflected in a corresponding number of breeding records, though, happily, there were a few more than in 2005. Reports of breeding activity, including the presence of juveniles in some cases, came from Strid Wood, Heber’s Ghyll Wood, Shipley Glen, Goit Stock, Lindley Wood and Knotford Nook.
WILLOW
WARBLER
Phylloscopus trochilus
Common migrant breeder/passage visitor.
As usual, well-represented, with over 160 records from across the area, but, despite the presence of numerous singing males, there was no proportionate evidence of local breeding, though juveniles were seen in many places towards the end of the season.
The first arrival was noted at Otley Wetland on 9th April, the latest for several years, and there was no particular rush of birds in the weeks which followed, as there were only seven double-figure counts up to the end of May, comfortably the highest of which was 15 at St. Ives on 22nd April. Counts of about ten birds were also made at Denholme Clough, Shipley Glen, Doe Park Reservoir, Strid Wood, Ogden Reservoir and Snowden Crags.
Prior to migration, most of the records came from the expected woodland habitat, but there were reports from gardens at Oxenhope, Sconce Lane, Ben Rhydding and Shipley, and there were interesting sightings of birds feeding in a culvert at Leeshaw Reservoir in May, and in a rocky area well up on Burley Moor in August. Post-breeding produced up to eight birds relocating on several occasions, but only 14 birds in the Shipley Glen area in July, and 20 at Denholme Clough got into double figures. Dispersal probably started in a significant way around early August, and between then and the end of October about 140 birds were seen at the usual migration watchpoints and elsewhere. The highest aggregate over this period, 48, came from Paul Clough. Stockbridge had the year’s final bird on the fairly typical date of 1st October.
Nest-building was witnessed in Strid Wood, and birds were seen food-carrying in another part of the same general area. A family party seen at Sconce in June was a good indication of local breeding, young were seen as early as May at Pool Paper Mills, and it was said to have been a good breeding season across the Denton Estate.
GOLDCREST
Regulus regulus
Resident breeder and passage/winter visitor.
The records received for 2006 would tend to indicate that Goldcrest is essentially just a winter visitor to, and passage migrant through the area, as the four months from May mustered only four reports. As it probably follows, there was no breeding data.
Over 75 records were submitted for the first four months of the year, with particularly good counts of at least 19 birds at Ogden Reservoir, and 20 at St. Ives, both in January. A bird, and sometimes two, made regular visits to a Ben Rhydding garden during this period, and there were further garden records from Bingley and Gilstead.
There were fewer reports for the second winter period, but some good counts, including up to 30 birds at Ogden at the end of October, and ten still there in November. The well-vegetated watchpoints of Paul Clough and Denholme Clough produced the main autumn migration sightings, and had identical seasonal totals of 21 each, but Denholme had the highest daily count, of ten birds on 21st October.