Local and fairly un common in the recording area and also only evident from 25th April to 1st July. Up to 10 birds were noted singing in the stronghold of Strid Woods and it is highly likely this species bred there. Breeding was however confirmed at Goit Stock, Dob Park and Panorama Woods.

The only additional sites to attract Wood Warblers this year were Otley Chevin, St Ives and Hebers Ghyll Wood near Ilkley.

The first returning bird was at the stronghold of Strid Woods on 30th April. This site provided many records of up to six singing males. They were also noted at Hanging Wood near Thruscross Reservoir, Shipley Glen, Otley Chevin, Heber’s Ghyll Wood, Baildon Bank, Drebley, Swinsty Reservoir and Myrtle Park.

Only one pair was reported to have bred in Dob Park Wood, whilst there were no records from the formerly-productive Folly Hall Wood. The final record was at Dob Park on the 30th June, thus this species was only with us for two months of the year.

Summer residents were seen at only four locations, Heber’s Ghyll, St. Ives, Dob Park Wood and Strid Wood, from where 50% of the records originated. The first bird was found there on the fairly typical date of 29th April, and the last resident was noted on 6th June at Dob Park. Unless, therefore, birds were overlooked after that date, the species was actively present in the area for less than six weeks, although this warbler can be elusive after breeding.

In general, numbers seemed to be considerably down, and even in the species’ stronghold of Strid Wood, no more than four birds could be found, compared with, for example, as many as eighteen there on a single day in May 2002. Future years will indicate whether this represents a sustained reduction.

This species is particularly scarce on migration, and garden records are even more so, making the report of a juvenile bird in a Low Moor garden on 14th August singularly notable (MVP).

The only confirmed breeding came from Dob Park Wood, where there were two pairs.

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.

Last year’s Report pointed out Wood Warbler’s continuing decline in the area, and there is nothing in this year’s data to suggest any improvement. Whilst six locations were again involved, only half of them are actual or likely breeding sites, and, though birds were regularly reported from Strid Wood, the best count was five, which probably represented the locality’s male population. A singing bird was heard at Timble Ings just once, and three were in Heber’s Ghyll late in May. The area’s summer population of males was therefore unlikely to have been more than nine, and Strid Wood had birds reported for just two months, between the year’s first on 26th April, and the site’s last on 24th June. The final record for the year was at Denholme Clough on 3rd September, one of three scarce migration records for the species. The others came from Bingley North Bog on 8th August, and Ogden Reservoir on 19th May.