Walk home from work today took me along Beldon Brook where I saw Dipper, Fieldfares and Redwings. Up through Lepton Great Wood gave me Jays,Crows, Jackdaws with Blue and Great Tits. Coming out of the wood at the top of Rowley Lane here I saw Long Tailed Tits, and a Charm of Goldfinchs, Dunnock and Wrens. Final leg home took me down one of my favourite routes Thurgory Lane. I saw down here a group of Common Partridge about 12 in all along with a good size winter flock of Skylarks, must have been 40+, and a small flock of Yellowhammers with Chaffinch. A male Kestrel flew overhead and Mistle Thrush in the side fields and Blackbirds in the hedgerows. Final leg took me down Cuckoo hill where Woodpigeon and Stock Dove were added to the srtoll home. Nice walk about 3 hours in all and did the legs know glb

Good result with the Dipper and Grey Partridge in Lepton. I lived in Lepton in the mid 1980's and Lepton Great Wood was my local patch. All 3 Woodpeckers were present then and Dipper occasionally wintered. LSW I guess is very scarce now but at least Nuthatch have colonised in recent years. Grey Partridge are very thin on the ground, locally now, and I am sure the recorder will be interested in your sightings.

As you work at Reliance gears do you ever visit Dogley Nature Reserve, the old sewage works at Dogley, just further along Penistone Road? This has a good woodland/water bird selection and is also good for Butterflies and Dragonflies in the summer months.

Good to see the Skylark flock is hanging around, there were several at Shepley yesterday too. Although these have usually left for lower ground by now. However, with the exceptional temperatures recently they may linger for a ltttle while yet. Do you see any flocks of Linnet in Lepton during the winter months too?

The fields going upto Highburton near Lepton Great Wood usually produce Tree Sparrow, are you seeing any of these in the area too?

11th Dec Ingbirchworth Res am. Canada Goose numbers up to c 300, 5 Wigeon, c180 B h Gull, 16 Mallard, 9 Tufted and a male Goldeneye.

Trip out today to Blackmoorfoot Res. Bteween the hours of 1:00 and 2:00pm In the area today were plenty of Black Headed and Common Gulls along with one male Goldeneye, and Mallards on the water. In the trees Great and Blue Tits with Robin, Blackbirds and Chaffinch. In the fields the usual Crows and Jackdaws and a good couple of hundred Lapwings. Good sized flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings. Good to start seeing Fieldfares in numbers rather than ones and twos.  Get out and Birdwatch

A trip to Ingbirchworth/Broadstones Res. today produced Bramblings along with Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, and Robins. On the water a good number of Black Headed Gulls and a few Common Gulls with one or two Lessers. Ducks seen were, Mallards and 21 Wigeon on Broadstones Res, 9 males. One Little Grebe and that was it on the water.
In the fields Fieldfares, Mistle Thrush and Starlings. Large flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plovers about. 26.01.07   

Alf

Thanks for your query, Dogley Nature Reserve is the former sewage works at Dogley just off Penistone Road, near Kirkburton/Highburton. It was taken over by Kirklees Council in the late 1980's and a meadow area, pond (sadly now leaking and defunct) and much shrub and tree planting occured. Very few people seem to know were it is hence fortunately the site has not suffered vandalism/abuse as many other areas do these days. The main feature of the site are the large flagpole Larches which can be seen easily from Penistone Road once you know were the site is!

Directions: If visiting by car it is best to park on the road leading upto Highburton, Far Dene? I believe and then cross Penistone Road at the new pelican crossing/traffic lights just before reaching Kirkburton coming from Huddersfield. Having crossed the road walk right a few yards and you will see a large metal gate and a smaller pedestrian gate to the right of it. Go through here and down the track to the former sewage works area. It is all public access and apart from a few dog walkers is rarely visited. I visited a few days ago and most of the paths are in good order, a tree has come down in the recent gales across one of the paths but can be safely negotiated. The site is now managed by Kirklees Council and BEG - the new Burton Environment Group.

Wildlife: There is a good range of resident birds and the site is in a nice sheltered, river valley providing opportunities for many passage species too. Kingfishers are resident on the beck and have bred nearby, Grey Wagtail can occur in both summer and winter, Bullfinches are usually in good numbers along with Song Thrush. The site is excellent for Warblers and both Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat have bred in the last 10 years along with Garden,Blackcap, Willow and Chiffchaff. Spotted Flycatcher was a regular breeder but is now extinct here as with so many other sites, although the habitat is still excellent for passage birds. There is usually a good range of finches here and Great-spotted and Green Woodpeckers occur on the site and the adjacent farmland/woodland nearby. Nuthatches have bred at the site in recent years too. Other species to look out for are Willow Tit, Siskin, Redpoll, Treecreeper, Kestrel, Sparrowhark and possibly Buzzard looking to the ridge near Woodsome Golf Course.

Other wildlife includes a good range of insects particularly butterflies. I recorded White-letter hairstreak here for the first time in 2005. Several species of dragonflies can also be seen in the summer months.

Overall this would make an ideal local patch for somebody. I would be grateful if you could post your sightings here if you do start visiting the site on a regular basis. Spring and Autumn probably have the greatest range of birds but Winter can be productive too.

Please let us know how you get on at the site.

Thurgory Lane this morning (17.02.07) for about 1 1/2 hours, resulted Skylarks about 5 singing birds along with about 7 yellowhammers. Dunnocks a plenty stopped counting after 10, sorry i'm not one for counting birds. Robins, Blue Tits, Chaffinch and Long Tailed Tits. Rather quite along Thurgory this morning fields have been ploughed over and there is a couple of stubble fields so hopefully might catch something in the coming month maybe Wheatear again pasing thru??