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

21/04/2016 11:30

Lesser Whitethroat heard for the first time this year in exactly the same bush as last years first bird and our Reed Warblers are back also

YoIt is good to have Lesser Whitethroat singing its head off in a clump of bushes just below Pildacre fields Chickenley this morning.Some how the rattling song is a nice contrast to the other more familiar songs of Willow Warblers  and Chiff Chaffs that at the moment seem to be singing in...

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20/04/2016 13:08

Hares in courtship display behind local pub

2 hares could be see going through very animated display and courtship manoeuvres in fields just behind the Huntsman Public House at Shaw Cross Dewsbury this evening.The animals can be easily seen from. areas on Chidswell Lane due to the grass been kept short with grazing livestock.But the best...

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13/04/2016 11:00

Whitethroat and House Martins return to local sites.

A Common Whitethroat was found on Dewsbury Sewage Works this morning.Had I not gone to inspect a couple of alarming Blackbirds in a reed bed I am sure I would never have noticed it.It was sat preening itself in the weak sunshine before it dived into the Phragmitese.Then it was easily located by its...

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12/04/2016 20:41

Local migrants still slow to emerge

Apart from a single singing Blackcap and 3 singing Willow Warblers there still seems to be little sign of a great arrival yet of local summer visitors in this part of the calder valley. Duck numbers are at last it seems decreasing as the head off to breed.There are now only 7 Shoveller and 5...

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06/04/2016 21:07

A good day for migrants in this part of the valley.

A Curlew flew West over Mill Bank Thornhill at 08:15 this morning. Also 2 singing Willow Warblers,one in the copse just beyond Kerrie,s foods factory and one on Dewsbury Sewage works.THERE WAS A STEADY FLOW OF Swallows westerly for the first three hours at the rate of around 50 per hour up...

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29/03/2016 23:43

Barn Owl again showing well

A Barn Owl was perched on a fence post on the lower Pildacre fields this morning.The bird took flight when I got about 20 yards from it and flew off towards Healy Road Ossett.Its still pretty quiet around my part of the valley but a lone Sand Martin was frequenting the river Calder around...

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25/03/2016 17:14

Swallow makes first appearance on local Sewage works

A Male Swallow was over the filter beds on Dewsbury Sewage works around 14:05 today.The bird did not hang around and flew off Westerly after about 3 minutes.

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23/03/2016 13:03

Barn Owl becoming a familiar site again.

A Barn Owl has been hunting this week on the premises of Kerries Food Factory at the bottom of Healy Road Ossett.The bird was hunting for a time near the Group 4 security cabin around 7 in the evening and will undoubtably be the same bird which has been frequenting thefields beside the converted...

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15/03/2016 10:59

Ducks again increase in the Dewsbury area

It has now become almost customary for Ducks to create interest at this time of year in my part of the valley.A walk along the river Calder this morning revealed yet another increase in duck numbers. There are now 37 Shoveller on Dewsbury Sewage Works along with 9 Gadwall.Also around the Saville...

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11/03/2016 20:41

Peregrine again hunting Wood Pigeons at Shaw Cross and using North Ossett Church as a resting place.

A Peregrine and sometimes 2 was hunting Wood Pigeons on Chidswell Lane yesterday morning.There is around 150/160 Wood Pigeons congregating around the Water Tower at Shaw Cross and the Peregrines are seeminly choosing this as their place for hunting at the moment. They seem to be using North Ossett...

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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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Photo Gallery: Homepage

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Some overseas trips

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