Tag Archives: merlin

Birds of many feathers flock together in the hills and dales around Hebden Bridge                                                                                                                                   

Whether you’re a serious birdwatcher or simply enjoy observing garden birds, there’s a wealth of birdlife in the hills and dales around Hebden Bridge. Because of its hilltop location, Elmet Farmhouse is the perfect place for birdwatching. 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 Upper Calder Valley. These photos record some of the birds we’ve encountered locally in the last few years.

Blue Tits

Barn Owls

Black-headed Gulls

Blackbirds

Buzzards

Canada Geese

Chaffinches

Chiffchaff

Coal Tits

Curlews

Dippers

Dunnock

Fieldfares

Gadwall Ducks

Golden Plovers

Goldfinches

Goosanders

Great Spotted Woodpeckers 

Greenfinches

Grey Herons

Grey Wagtails

Greylag Geese

Herring Gulls

House Sparrows

Jackdaws

Jays

Kestrels

Lapwings

Little Owls

Mallard Ducks

Meadow Pipits

Mistle Thrushes

Northern Wheatears

Oystercatchers

Pheasants

Pied Wagtails

Ravens

Red Grouse

Redpolls

Redshanks

Redwings

Reed Buntings

Rooks

Sandpipers

Short-Eared Owls

Siskins

Skylarks

Snipe

Song Thrushes

Starlings

Swallows

Tawny Owls

Treecreepers

Tufted Ducks

Willow Warblers

Wrens

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

© Photos copyright Lesley Jackson and Ian Fishwick