Widespread again this year and causing no concern as to status. The first migrants were right on cue in the second half of March followed by records from many sites. The usual mid-summer lull in sightings was predictably followed by return passage birds turning up almost anywhere where trees and bushes are present including Kex Gill Quarry. Sightings were fewer throughout September and there were only three October sightings with birds seen at Esholt, Denholme Clough and Lindley Wood.

The last report of the year came from Otley Gravel Pits on 4th December.

The only winter record was of a single at Dowley Gap Sewage Works from January until early March. The first singing bird was noted at Sun Lane on 17th March. Ten days later there were nine singing birds between Lindley Wood Reservoir and Swinsty Reservoir, and, by 12th April, 12 were singing between Lindley Wood and Dob Park Bridge.

Reported throughout the area during the summer, with breeding proven at Strid Woods, Lindley Wood Reservoir and Menston. Passage continued at many sites into October, with the last at Barden on 24th.

Widespread again this year and causing no concern as to status. The first migrants were right on cue in the second half of March followed by records from many sites. The usual mid-summer lull in sightings was predictably followed by return passage birds turning up almost anywhere where trees and bushes are present including Kex Gill Quarry. Sightings were fewer throughout September and there were only three October sightings with birds seen at Esholt, Denholme Clough and Lindley Wood.

The last report of the year came from Otley Gravel Pits on 4th December

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.

In a year when there were well over 200 records, good numbers of birds (particularly on migration), and many reports of birds on territory, it is a pity breeding scarcely got a mention. There were only three reports: food carrying at Pool Paper Mills, a pair with young at Goit Stock, and a presumed locally raised juvenile seen at Damems in June.

A bird wintering at Dowley Gap was presumably the one seen there in the previous December, but played to a much larger audience between 3rd and 24th January. Two birds were present there a month later, and a single on 10th March. Elsewhere in Airedale, birds seen in early March at Low Wood, Goit Stock and Bingley could also have wintered, but the last two (seen on the 11th and 13th) are more probably the first spring arrivals. Two birds were also found in the second winter period, at Stockbridge on 1st December, and Weecher Reservoir on the 9th. Only three gardens figured in the records: two in Bingley and one in Ben Rhydding.

There was no great influx of birds until April, when up to seven were seen at St. Ives on many occasions, there was a particularly good count of eight there on the 14th, and there were twelve in the lower part of the Washburn Valley four days later, having increased from ten earlier in the month. However, the biggest counts came in an excellent autumn migration period, when, between late August and mid-October, an estimated 100 birds were seen, principally in Denholme Clough, which had about 66, and Paul Clough, where the total was fourteen. Denholme Clough also had the year’s highest daily count of 20 birds, present in the bushes with other passerines on 28th August. The year’s final birds were seen there and at Stockbridge on 14th October.

Remains common and well-recorded, with many reports from the Washburn Valley, where 10 birds were noted at two different locations in April. A wintering bird was seen at both ends of the year in the Dowley Gap and adjacent Hirst Wood areas.