Its worth a visit


Welcome to our website

The main aim of this website is to make local people aware of the Bird Life in and around my home town of Dewsbury

Nearly all my English birding activities centres around the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire but more specificly in the areas between Dewsbury Town and Horbury bridge with especial attention paid to an area now known as the Thornhill Wetlands were recently a new and very interesting Nature Reserve has been developed.

Also there is much information relating to my time spent Watching and photographing birds in the Gambia West Africa

My travels in the Gambia allways seem to be a great success with new species being added and photographed on each of my twelve visits so far.

Much of the praise for this success must go to my guide and friend PA JALLOW who is allways completely up to date with his observations and information regarding birding sites in the Gambia.

In recent years my Gambian trips have taken on a more scientific theme mainly due to my close friendship with the author Clive Barlow.Due to his influence i have managed to get photographs of birds published in many African Photographic Field Guides for which I am most grateful.

 

Visitor's notice

For anyone lucky enough to have visited the Gambia to either see the birds or indeed as I do indulge in photographing the birds and other wildlife one cannot fail to be ikmpressed by the sheer variety of not just the birds(which are more than worth devoting a holiday to themselves) but also the insects(particulary the butterflies and dragonflies and beetles) and indeed the mammals and reptiles all of which present a challenge of their own.

In building this website we hope to illustrate as wel as we can the great rewards for the photographer and birder alike that this small but very friendly country can offer.

Any serious photographers or birders wishing to bird alone or in very smallgroups could do worse than having a chat to our guide PA JALLOW who has gained much experience in the needs and requirements of travelling birders from several countries.

Going back to our more local activities I am lucky enough to have had as a friend for many years Russell Smithson who besides being an excellent birder was also a master joiner.His expertise in the construction of bird nesting boxes has added a great extension to our birding activities as we have embarked in the placingof nesting boxes in as many suitable locations along the Calder valley as we can manage.These include sites in Dewsbury,Mirfield ,Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe. 

 

Allready we have had great success with many species including Tawny and Little Owl as well as the usual Blue and great tits as well as such birds as Wren and Stock Dove.We look forward to Spring 2012 with great anticipationte to have 

More Recent Events

 

Covid has had a negative impact on much of my local birding with my local sewage works becoming out of bounds with this site previousely accounting for the majority of my records.

In more recent times I am spending more and more time in North Lincolnshire due to family reasons but have been fortunate to become familiar with some of the splendid Nature Reserves on Southern side of the River Humber particulary the Reserves Far Ings and especialy Alkborough Flats.

These two reserves are excellent for many Marsh and Wading birds with Alkborough being one of the best Bearded Tit sites iv ever encountered.

Another of my now favourite Reserves is Messingham Sand Quarry just around 15 minutes from my kids school an

d like other reserves in North Lincolnshire it is both Dog and Bycicle free making it ideal for Macro photography.

I look forwards to posting my sightings from this part of the country.


Photo Gallery: Homepage

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News

22/11/2023 13:04

Messingham Sand Quarry

Although i rank Messingham Sand Quarry has been very much a Spring and Summer/Autumn Reserve it offers interesting walks in both Late Autumn and Winter On this occassion a quick early stop into the fierst of 2 hides was very worthwhile. A quick count of the wildfowl on offer produced some 340...

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12/05/2022 10:12

Getting back into the swing with a trip to Scotton Common North Lincolnshire.

Having become more and more frustrated with continualy trying to gain access to what in the past have been my local birding sites and being continualy turned away Im lucly to be spending half of my week visiting and staying with my family in North Lincolnshire. Its nice to be dealing with a local...

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10/01/2022 14:57

Alkboro Flats North Lincolnshire

I know Im in for an interesting morning when the first bird I see shutting my car door in the car park is a female Mash Harrier.The first field as I walked North towards the Humber River had around 500 Common Starlings feeding along with around 85 Goldfinch scattered amongst the Thistle...

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10/01/2022 14:49

Time to get back into the field again.

After a frustrating 18 months locked out of my usual local birding patch due to the pandemic and some of my favourit footpaths being blocked off by local farmers who are tired of furlowed dog walkers trampling over theie land disturbing cattle and littering their fields with discarded face masks...

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31/05/2021 21:26

Goosanders doing well but Kingfishers suffer a setback

2 pairs of Goosanders have bred succesfully in theOssett area on the River Calder.Each pair has hatched 10 youngsters and all are at present doing well. Its allways worrying when you come across so called wldlife photographers lurking in the vicinity of bird nesting sites and  a recent...

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14/05/2021 22:59

Hirrundines and Swifts gather again at local Sewage Works.

There was good numbers of House Martins and Swifts on Dewsbury Sewage Works this morning.Around 400 House Martins where concentrated over  the centre of the works along with some 200 Swifts.In lesser numbers where Swallows numbering around 120 and Sand Martins totaling around a hundred...

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11/05/2021 14:10

Alkington Flatts North Lincolnshires a brief visit.

While on my weekly foray in to Lincolnshire i found time to visit Alkington Flatts Nature Reserve this morning. It was very refreshing to get out of the car in the car park and hear a Cuckoo calling its head off from a large Oak tree bordering the reserve.The bird was calling non stop for about 30...

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07/05/2021 11:39

Back to cloudy and cold but House martins increase.

Noticeably colder than yesterday nevertherless still brought good numbers of Hirrundines to Dewsbury Sewage Works.There was at least 400 House Martins,around 55 Sand martins,140 Swallows and around 25 Common Swifts hawking around the filter beds of the works at 09:00 this morning. The cold weather...

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06/05/2021 12:10

What a difference a week makes.

How noticeable this morning that the local hedgerows are much more lively with birdsong.On leaving my car in Healy Road Ossett the first sound I hear is of a singing Common Whitethroat with its distinct scratchy song.In total there where singing Whitethroats around the Healy Road Healy Mills area...

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28/04/2021 11:47

Merlin pays brief visit to local sewage Works.

Few thing can be more exiting than having a Merlin flying at full speed over your shoulder before diving headlong into a a feeding party of Black Headed gulls and Carrion Crows. However that is precisely what happened this morning at 09:25 as I was patiently scanning the filter beds on Dewsbury...

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News

10/08/2011 12:06

Things rather quiet on the birding front at the moment

There seems little birding activity in our area at the moment but there are some signs of post breeding activities. The stream that runs parrallel to Healy Road Ossett has been recently cleaned out of much vegetation (a good patch of Touch Me Not Balsam was an unfortunate casualty)and as a result...

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30/07/2011 19:49

Warbler numbers much diminished in our local patch( possible early dispersal) ?.

It is suddenly very noticeable in our part of the Calder valley how the good numbers of certain species such as Whitethroats and Phylloscopus Warblers have declined over the past few days.If this is due to end of season dispersal then it would appear that the dispersal is happening much earlier...

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27/07/2011 13:19

Thornhill Wetlands still holding good numbers of small birds

With allmost windless conditions in the valley this morning there was markedly less activity in the valley.There are still good numbers of Phylloscopus Warblers around Dewsbury Sewage Works particulary at the centre area of the old works which had around 25 Phylloscs and around 30 Common...

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25/07/2011 13:00

Birds Galore on the Kerries Nature Reserve.

A trip down to the Kerries Nature reserve at Ossett produced good numbers of a lot of species this morning.Most surprising was the arrival of 3 Willow Tits (2 adults and a very young juvenile) which spent most of their time on the reserve wooden fence at the centre of the reserve.(see...

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14/07/2011 18:29

Green Sandpipers return to our stretch of the Calder

A Green Sandpiper was present on the River Calder this morning and was spending its time on the mud fringes of the river between the Hotworks stretch and the Dewsbury Sewage Works border fence This is rather a late arrival this tear as the birds are usualy present at the end of June and usualy...

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06/07/2011 19:06

Good numbers of both Sylvia and Acrocephalus Warblers up the Calder valley around Dewsbury

It appears that the annual build up of Warblers in the area between Dewsbury and Horbury bridge is commencing earlier than usual this year. A walk up river from Horbury towards Dewsbury yesterday provided records of singing Sedge and Reed Warblers right up near the Sands Lane area.There was at...

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14/06/2011 14:31

Little Ringed Plover found Breeding on a local sight

A pair of Little Ringed Plovers were found on a suitable habitat this morning,The pair showed all the characteristic behaviour of a breeding pair in territory with the broken wing display etc(see photogallery). Also 3 young Tawny Owls on the Thornhill Wetlands Reserve  and a new Grasshopper...

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12/06/2011 18:57

Hobby,Peregrine and Little Owl all in space of around twenty minutes

The arrival of Southerly winds yesterday was a welcome release from the persistant South Westerly and Westerly trend we have had over the last few weeks. A walk around the Thornhill Wetlands area of Dewsbury proved what we had suspected.The recent run of dry weather has proved very beneficial...

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10/06/2011 19:13

My local Sand Martin Colony attacked by Mink

I recieved a phone call from a colleague of mine this afternoon describing an attack on my local Sand Martin colony at Ossett(which held around 32 pairs of birds mostly with well developed youngsters).Whilst routinely observing the colony from the oppositte river bank a great panic suudenly...

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02/06/2011 11:31

Local Bird news

All morning spent on Thornhill Wetlands Reserve at Kerries in Ossett . There is much improved bird passage along this part of the Calder Valley. There are at least 4 new Reed Warblers on the Reserve at Kerries Foods with a new Grasshopper Warbler reeling at the 2nd top half of the...

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Photo Gallery: Homepage

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Some overseas trips

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