Red
Kite |
Marsh
Harrier |
RED
KITE
Milvus milvus
Resident and scarce breeder.
The Report for as recently as 2000 described that year as being average, with four records of probably two birds. This year, just short of 200 records have been submitted, covering every month! That said, it should be stressed that the vast majority of these came from the same location, Barden Scale, and reflect the diligence of the regular observer (AGG), so they do not necessarily indicate the total number of birds actually present in the recording area. Whilst some birds were individually identified by tags, others weren’t, and assessment of numbers is therefore impossible.
It can, however, be said that multiple sightings at this location were fairly commonplace, and on one occasion, 19th November, six birds were seen. Other records came almost entirely from the Otley area and the Washburn Valley, where at least five birds were present on 22nd June. The one exception was a welcome sighting in the south, where a bird was present at Warley Moor on 21st March.
Clearly all this is reflective of the success of the Harewood introduction scheme, and it is pleasing to report that for the second successive year a pair bred in the recording area, successfully fledging two young, whilst another pair was present all spring at another location.
MARSH
HARRIER
Circus aeruginosus
Scarce, but regular, passage visitor.
Whilst an average year, it was a distinct improvement on 2004, with seven records, all single birds, and coming mainly from Barden Scale watch-point.
This site had the only spring records, on 21st April and 1st May, and autumn passage produced birds there 22nd July, 21st August and 12th September. Nearby at Langbar, a hasty exit from his car enabled the observer to get good views of a cream-crown bird which flew across the road in front of him on 30th August (AGG et al).
A rare record came from the south of the area, with a bird moving east at Thornton Moor Reservoir on 31st August (BV).
HEN
HARRIER Circus cyaneus
Regular passage/winter visitor.
Thirty-one records for the year is now fairly typical. Assessment of the number of individual birds comprised within these is difficult, but, given the pattern of occurrences and the distinctive features noted on some birds, it is possible about twenty were involved in total. All records came from the north of the recording area, predominantly around Barden.
In the first winter period, records from there and adjoining localities comprised single ringtails on nine dates to the end of March, and an adult male on 23rd and 25th March. The only other sighting in this period was a bird at Kex Gill on 29th March.
Birds seen in April and May were almost certainly on passage, and consisted of individuals at Barden on four dates, and a bird at Timble Ings on 3rd May, with perhaps the same at Hanging Moor, Blubberhouses, that day and 4th. Autumn passage became evident from 15th August, when a bird was seen from Barden Scale, and there were further sightings on three days in September, including two birds on 24th.
There was then a lull until the end of October and beginning of November, when up to four birds, including two adult males, were seen near Timble Ings. Any hopes these would winter were, however, unfulfilled, as there were no sightings after 6th November, and sightings at Barden Scale during the same period were limited to five days in November and one in December. These generally involved a single bird, but two were seen on 12th November.
Wing-tagged birds were noted on a few occasions, but the exact details couldn’t be made out.
MONTAGU’S
HARRIER Circus
pygargus
Rare passage migrant Addition to 2005 Report
The Group’s third record involved a 1st-summer male watched for several minutes on 9th July from the Barden Scale watchpoint, the location of the previous record in 2001. Whilst views were relatively brief, the detailed description enabled the record to be accepted by the YNU (AGG et al).
NORTHERN
GOSHAWK
Accipiter gentilis
Scarce resident/passage visitor.
Once again the sightings (or lack of them) for this species are as frustrating as ever. There were only eight records from five relatively proximate sites, and a co-ordinated watch of these and others in March produced a co-ordinated nil return. Yet again, there was no evidence of attempted breeding, and it is tempting to suppose the area contains no more than a handful (if that) of mobile birds.
At the first site, what was presumably the male seen in previous years, was observed sitting out on two occasions in spring, but with little display activity. Another bird, possibly a female, perched out at a second nearby location on two consecutive days in March.
In a third general area, single males were seen on three days (at different sites) and two on another day at one of them. There were no sightings after 3rd April (KM, AGG).
EURASIAN
SPARROWHAWK
Accipiter nisus
Common resident breeder/ passage visitor.
This species attracted the remarkable number of 320 records, although it should be stressed that 175 of these came from the particularly well-watched and assiduously recorded Barden area. Surprisingly, there were very few urban reports.
Multiple sightings were widely reported, but, here again, Barden Scale led the way, with a maximum of seven birds there in June. Pre-breeding display activity was also most frequently witnessed at Barden, mostly from late March to early May, but with some activity there to as late as 21st June. In contrast, the first displaying record was of a male and two females over Spring Wood, Esholt, on New Year’s Day. Display flights were also seen at Blubberhouses, Norwood Edge, Oxenhope, and the Washburn Valley.
Despite these many reports, there was comparatively little definite proof of breeding. This came from five locations. Two young were ringed at Howgill Wood, one at Weston (where there were four young in all), and three at a private site. Birds also bred at Middleton Woods and St. Ives, in addition to which there were several sightings of adults carrying prey into the woods around Barden. Clearly, this aspect is somewhat under-recorded.
COMMON
BUZZARD
Buteo buteo
Increasingly common resident, and passage migrant/ winter visitor.
The 1995 Group Report described it as being an excellent year for the species. Such is the exponential growth since then, that the maximum number of birds now seen on a single day is getting on for the yearly total ten years ago.
This year, 330 records were submitted, with sightings throughout the year, although most came from the north-west sector, and, in particular, Barden Scale. This location had daily double figures in every month but July, October and December, and on 6th September no less than eighteen different birds were seen, a record for the Group (AGG).
As with many other birds of prey, particularly those prone to wandering, estimating total numbers is difficult. However, from the detailed records submitted, it is thought probable there were also at least thirty birds in the Washburn Valley, and eleven in Lower Wharfedale. There seem to be increasing numbers of records from the south of the recording area, which this year included several individuals seen on the land between Thornton Moor and Midgley Moor, and even urban outskirts : Shipley Glen, Elland Gravel Pits and Thornton.
Breeding successes mirrored the increase in the number of sightings, and were at least on a par with 2004. In Wharfedale, four pairs raised a total of six young, with the distinct probability that birds had bred elsewhere in the dale, based on observations of behaviour. Birds again bred in the Washburn Valley, where seven young were raised from three nests, and a nest was constructed at a further site, but abandoned. As with Wharfedale, the presence of other pairs, often including displaying birds, strongly suggested there were other breeding attempts or successes.
OSPREY
Pandion haliaetus
Uncommon but regular passage visitor.
After a poor year in 2004, this bird came back to form, with a good series of records, although many of them came from the watch-point at Barden Scale, and might have involved a limited number of birds in all.
The first returning bird was at Barden on 6th April, from where there were three more April records of up to three different birds (AGG, JLT, BV). In the south of the area a bird over Oxenhope on 13th April might have accounted for the further reports at Leeshaw Reservoir on 15th and 21st (RHP, BV).
The Barden area had all the May records. There were nine reports, beginning with at least two birds on 9th, and between 15th and 20th there were further sightings of up to two birds, including several on consecutive days. From the pattern of observations, seven birds could have been involved (MD, AGG, M&PR).
With one exception, Barden again monopolised the June records. There were ten reports, beginning on 4th June, but, particularly towards the end of the month, it was thought it was the same bird, or perhaps two (JF, AGG). Away from here, a bird was seen from Thornton Moor Reservoir as it flew north-west over Leeming on 20th June (KM). July had only one record, again at Barden, on the last day of the month (AGG).
In the following month, the first two days had records of the bird seen on 31st July, and a different one on 21st (AGG et al). The last two sightings of the year were in the south. On 30th August, a bird stopped off and bathed at Thornton Moor Reservoir, before leaving southwards (BV), and finally, a departing bird passed over Oxenhope on 20th September, just over five months after an early arrival had been noted there by the same observer (RHP).
COMMON
KESTREL
Falco tinnunculus
Common resident breeder/passage migrant.
The many Sparrowhawk records are surpassed by this species, which mustered 360, though, here again, matters are put into perspective by there being 165 submissions from Barden Scale alone. As with Sparrowhawk, there is also a scarcity of records for urban and suburban areas, pointing to under-recording rather than a lack of birds.
Good numbers of birds were recorded throughout, but particularly from Barden, where numbers were doubtless boosted by post-breeding family parties, and where up to twelve birds could be seen in August.
Displaying birds were seen at Otley Wetland and Baildon, and mating took place at Baildon Bank and Stockbridge, but didn’t appear to lead to breeding. Circumstantial evidence of this came from Thornton Moor Reservoir, Glovershaw and Barden, where juvenile birds were seen, and, as already indicated, family parties at the latter location. Additionally, food-carrying was observed at a private site.
Breeding was proved in respect of pairs using nest-boxes at three locations from which a total of thirteen young birds were ringed. It was also definitely established at natural nest sites at Leeming, Luddenden Dean, Leeshaw, Dob Park, Weston, Howgill Wood and Denton. Young were ringed at Dob Park and Howgill and the total number of young fledged at natural sites was at least 21. One observer commented that breeding did not take place at a previously used site in Bingley, despite birds being still present in the area.
MERLIN
Falco columbarius
Resident breeder and passage/winter visitor.
This species was well-recorded from 16 locations, with some winter records from moorland and adjacent areas, indicating that some birds may not be moving far from breeding habitat. Away from these locations, birds, presumably on passage, were seen at Soil Hill, Denholme Clough, Otley Wetland, Thornton, Denton and Marley Sewage Works.
Whilst it is evident birds have deserted some areas of moorland where breeding formerly took place, the overall success rate in 2005 was better than the previous year. On one block of moorland the pair’s original nest was predated, but, following another attempt nearby, four young were successfully raised and ringed. On another moor two pairs raised four and three young, these also being ringed (PRo). In a third general area nine pairs were located, of which two failed due to suspected human interference and one as a result of natural causes. The remaining six pairs successfully fledged 22 young (PMW per AJ).
A male and two juveniles were seen in July in suitable habitat in the south of the area, indicating probable breeding there.
HOBBY
Falco subbuteo
Uncommon, but regular summer visitor/passage migrant.
The trend of recent years continues, with many records of birds in the summer months at a location in Wharfedale. Birds were seen on twelve dates between 21st June and 9th August, and often involved two birds (AGG et al). Whilst distances made the perception of individual features difficult, it is likely there was a turnover of different birds throughout this period.
Other records all involved singles. These came from Leeshaw Reservoir on 25th June (MD, SJ), Rombald’s Moor on 25th July (SJG) and Thruscross Reservoir on 1st August (JLT). Thornton Moor Reservoir had a bird on 4th September (MD, DCB), and 7th and 8th one was seen on nearby Ovenden Moor, chasing Meadow Pipits and Swallows.
PEREGRINE
FALCON
Falco peregrinus
Resident and occasional breeder; passage/winter visitor.
Whilst records came from every month, there were only 30 covering the period between April and the end of July, and, rather surprisingly, as few as ten in the final three months of the year. Most of these emanated from the Barden area, but nearly 70 came from elsewhere, with good numbers of birds seen in the south of the recording area. This is, in fact, the only part of the area where successful breeding was proved, and three young fledged from one nest.
The most number of birds seen together was three, mobbing a Short-eared Owl near Warley Moor Reservoir. The species’ increasingly urban tendencies were again illustrated by a bird roosting in the centre of Brighouse on 9th February. Though it is impossible to accurately assess the total number of individuals seen, the number of sightings tends to indicate at least 40 different birds were involved.