A worrying set of records with no party larger than thirteen being seen and no confirmed breeding records. Leeshaw Reservoir remains the group’s stronghold for this species with birds regularly noted here from March until July, no doubt attracted to some degree to the feeding scheme directed towards them. This initiative by HBC at Cold Edge Dams rewarded observers with thirteen during November and December, but only one had been seen in the spring.

Elsewhere, three birds were at Elland Gravel Pits on 28th January and the same number were at Bradup on 9th March. During April two were observed at Silsden with a single bird on Penistone Hill. Another three were at Luddenden Dean on 10th May.
Autumn records concerned one bird on Denton Moor on 11th October with singles at Soil Hill on the same date and also on 18th November.

Leeshaw Reservoir is usually the most regular site in the recording area and had up to 14 birds in March, one of which had rings indicating it had been ringed at Campfield Reservoir, Lancashire, 18 months previously. However, this location has now been superseded by Luddenden Dean, where birds were seen in four months of the year, with particularly impressive totals of 27 on 21st August, 21 on 9th September, and 33 on 26th. Thornton Moor Reservoir produced some 40 birds on passage, 21 of these being seen on 28th March.

Away from these locations, records were sparse, with two at Cold Edge Dams in March and another in April, three on Barden Moor in August, and at least one calling from a finch flock on Watson’s Lane, Norwood in December.

Bred at Warley Moor Reservoir, with three birds there in May, including one ringed at Cant Clough near Burnley.

That the Group now receives a good number of records of this species is due largely to the provision of seed at a number of feeding areas. As might be expected, all the 53 records came from the south of the area. Significant numbers of birds were involved, but it is impossible to estimate the overall total, given that most of the records came in a few concentrated periods, when the same birds were probably feeding up before moving on.

Nearly all the reports came from three main locations summarised below:

Leeshaw : Birds were seen between 7th March and 4th May, with sightings picking up again between 6th June and 21st July. Most records relate to late March and April, and involved between two and twelve birds, the maximum number being seen on 10th April. A late record involved fourteen birds on 29th August.

Luddenden Dean : Between two and nine birds were noted in the period 27th February to 27th March, with single sightings in April, May and August, and a sizeable party of 23 on the 25th of that month.

Warley Moor Reservoir : As with Leeshaw, most records came from April, when birds were presumably on migration. Generally, only twos and threes were involved, but there were good counts of 20 on 17th April, and 27 (the year’s maximum) on 23rd.

Away from here, there were a few records, mainly in single figures, from Cold Edge Dams, Ogden, Thornton Moor Reservoir and Soil Hill, although Thornton Moor had twelve birds on 20th March, and Soil Hill ten on 19th October.

Several birds were seen wearing colour-rings. In only one case could the colour combinations be identified. The bird was proved to have been ringed in Lancashire in April 2003, and it is probable most of the birds originated from this area.

There were no records in the first winter period, but around 60 reports were then received in every month from April, with nearly half of them originating in October and November. As in other recent years, the key to both the numbers of observations and birds seen is the provision of seed at various feeding stations in the south of the area, although their success is rather variable, as can be seen:

Warley Moor Reservoir : By far the most reliable and prolific site. In the period mentioned, birds were seen in every month but June, but there was no consistent pattern, and numbers were either quite low, or were well into double figures, even within the same period. There were particularly good totals of 28 and 33 birds in August, and 37, the year’s highest, in late October. Between 15 and 22 birds were recorded on 11 other dates, principally in September and October, but also in April, July and August. Otherwise, up to nine birds were present, and, exceptionally, twelve.

Leeshaw Reservoir : This general area was formerly the Group stronghold, and, whilst there were 13 records, the best count was eight birds, and there was nothing after early September, and little from the beginning of June, with nearly all the sightings being in spring.

Soil Hill : Odd birds have been seen with the Linnet flocks here in previous years, but this year there were 12 reports in October and November. Generally, no more than seven birds were seen, but there were up to 14 with particularly mobile Linnets in October.

Unusually, and pleasingly, there was a record this year away from the Pennines : two birds on Sandwith Moor on 8th October, and, also away from the expected sites, five birds were observed in Queensbury on 15th August.

This year’s 35 records are 40% down on 2006, the numbers seen were generally fewer, and there was a reversal in the winter observations compared to last year. Whilst last year there were no reports for the first winter period, in 2007 nearly half of them relate to the first three months; conversely, only two records for the period from October compares with around 30 last year.

However, one consistent aspect is Warley Moor Reservoir’s status as the prime site for the species, thanks to the establishment of a feeding station there. It produced 23 records of between one and 22 birds (on 19th August), and 10 birds were trapped and colour-ringed there in August, as part of the continuing study of this increasingly scarce finch. Soil Hill had several records in the early months, with a maximum of 11 birds on 11th February, and it was pleasing to receive reports from Thornton Moor Reservoir and Leeshaw. The first site attracted up to nine birds in late September, and a flock of 27 at Leeshaw on 15th March was the highest count since 1998 at what was formerly the Group’s stronghold.