Bird-watching

Birds of many feathers flock together

Whether you’re a serious birdwatcher or simply enjoy observing garden birds, there’s a wealth of birdlife in the countryside of the Upper Calder Valley around Elmet Farmhouse. Because of its location on a hillside surrounded by meadows, with woods and rivers in the valley below and open moorland on the uplands above, there’s an unusually diverse array of species in close proximity.

From golden plovers, lapwings and curlews up on ‘the tops’, to kestrels, swallows and pheasants in the fields, to woodpeckers, tawny owls and treecreepers in the woods and herons, dippers and grey wagtails by the river, there’s great scope for bird-watching in the hills and dales around Hebden Bridge. These photos record some of the birds encountered locally in recent years.

Blue Tits

  

Barn Owls

 

Black-headed Gulls

 

Blackbirds

 

Buzzards

  

Canada Geese

  

Chaffinches

 

Chiffchaffs

  

Coal Tits

  

Curlews

  

Dippers

  

Dunnocks

  

Fieldfares

  

Gadwall Ducks

  

Goldcrest

 

Golden Plovers

  

Goldfinches

  

Goosanders

  

Great Spotted Woodpeckers 

  

Great Tit

Green Woodpeckers

 

Greenfinches

 

Grey Herons

  

Grey Wagtails

  

Greylag Geese

  

Guinea Fowl

 

Herring Gull

House Sparrows

  

Jackdaws

 

Jay

 

Kestrels

  

Lapwings

  

Linnet

Little Owls

 

Long-Tailed Tit

Mallard Ducks

  

Meadow Pipits

  

Mistle Thrushes

 

Northern Wheatears

 

Oystercatchers

  

Parakeet

 

Peacock

 

Pheasants

 

Pied Wagtails

  

Ravens

   

Red Grouse

  

Redpolls

 

Redshanks

   

Redwings

  

Reed Buntings

 

Robins

  

Rooks

  

Sandpipers

  

Short-Eared Owls

 

Siskins

  

Skylarks

  

Song Thrushes

 

Snipes

  

Starlings

Swallows

 

Tawny Owls

  

 Treecreepers

  

Tufted Ducks

 

Willow Warblers

  

Wrens 

 

For up to date news about sightings by keen local birdwatchers, visit this blog: Calderdale Birds

 

Barn Owl

Barn Owls are one of several species of owl living in the hills and dales around Hebden Bridge, along with Tawny Owls, Little Owls and Short-Eared Owls. As Barn Owls are nocturnal, they are rarely spotted except at dawn or dusk, but if rain has prevented them from hunting during the night, they are occasionally seen during daylight hours

For the last few years a Barn Owl has taken up residence in Pecket Well, and has been regularly sighted during the summer months on hunting missions over the hay meadows at Elmet Farmhouse at dusk. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Photos copyright Lesley Jackson and Ian Fishwick

© Text copyright Lesley Jackson