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

16/02/2019 23:29

Oyster Catchers return to breeding area

2 Oyster Catchers returned to Dewsbury Sewage Works three days ago and immietlediately started displaying

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23/01/2019 18:05

Back in the field at last

After several weeks out of commision with first a very painful back problem followed almost immediately with a severe eye infection it was great to be back birding my patch this morning though my vision is still not 100% perfect it is good enough to look through my bins and get a very good...

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26/10/2018 12:05

No let up in Goose movement but Winter Thrushes slowly filtering in to local environment.

Yesterday brought good numbers of wood Pigeons coming in from the North and continuing flying South.670 Wood Pigeons flew South over Thornhill and beyond in around 30 minutes yesterday morning between 09:10 and 09:40.52 Pink footed Geese flew Eastwards as in previouse days(52 birds). 32 Fieldfares...

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22/10/2018 16:25

More Wild Geese over Ossett

At 10:15 a large skein of some 440 Pink Footed Geese passed over Lower Healy Road Ossett flying directly Easterly.This is the fifth skein of Pink Feet in 2 mornings with at least 800 birds passing in the spate of a few minutes yesterday morning. Small birds still thin on the ground with less than...

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21/10/2018 20:15

Pink Footed Geese continue to follow their traditional route Eastwards over Dewsbury

This morning saw at least 4 good sized skeins of Pink Footed Geese flying high over Earlsheaton sometimes with 3 or 4 stringsof birds.The first 2 parties 1 of around 130 birds was over at 11:15 quickly followed at 11:22 with a further party of some 240 birds following exactly the same flight...

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11/10/2018 23:34

Winter Thrushes starting to appear but still in small numbers

There was at least 20 Redwings feeding in a small copse in the lower Pildacre area (Ossett) this morning.After spending a couple of hours feeding up all the Redwings rose up and moved away slowly Southwards.Jays are very active in the  Ossett\Dewsbury area at the moment and one reason for this...

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10/10/2018 21:08

Ring Necked Parakeets increasing in the valley and Pink Footed Geese that pass in the night.

A party of 8 Ring Necked Parakeets where flying calling loudly around the Earlsheaton section of Mill Bank Thornhill yesterday morning.Thornhill Rectory Park has become a regular resting place for these birds in recent years and it is not unusual to see up to a dozen birds perched in the tall oaks...

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05/10/2018 15:30

Wild Geese make their presence heard in the Valley.

Yesterday morning at around 08:10 a flock (consisting of several skeins) of around 520 Pink Footed Geese flew in a Westerly direction over north Ossett in several v formations moving slowly Westerly.Often Pink Footed geese are first located by their call a very distinctive wink winky can be heard...

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03/10/2018 19:15

Nearly all Summer birds departed but still life in the valley

I have not seen any local Swallows on my patch since the 26th of September when 6 birds passed very quickly going South East over Horbury Bridge. There are 2 Chiff Chaff in the Pildacre fields area of Ossett at the moment and activity has stepped up on my feeders in the area with 18 Long Tailed...

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18/09/2018 11:25

House Martins and Swallows on the move.

Good numbers of Swallows and House Martins where moving very high and slowly Eastwards over Mill Bank Thornhill this morning. Though I was only present in the area for an hour this morning I counted some 600 birds passing very slowly over theMill Bank Austingley Lane area Thornhill in the first...

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Photo Gallery: Homepage

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Some overseas trips

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