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

01/09/2015 20:16

2 More common Sandpipers pay a visit

There are 2 more Common Sandpipers on the river Calder around the Earlsheaton/Saville Town area of the River Calder.As the river is a little high at the moment the more suitable areas are around the Willow Plantation below Mill Bank Thornhill where there is at least some rocky borders to the...

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17/08/2015 17:49

Common Sandpiper at last makes an appearance

A Common Sandpiper is frequenting the River Calder around the Saville Town area.This is my first sighting of this species in my area this year and I hope it will be the first os one or two more. On the calder in the same area there are now some 42 Mallard and 10 Teal with just a single Tufted duck...

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13/08/2015 20:28

Lone Greenshank is nice to see but otherwise generally quiet.

With most of my local ponds running dry it was nice to find a lone Greenshank (see photo gallery) on the local sewage works this afternoon.The bird is spending all of its time on the sewage bed adjacent to Hotworks mill and is visible from the public footpath that runs from Pildacre Chickenley to...

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05/08/2015 17:10

Still pretty quiet though a Pintail Duck on the Calder is still worth seeing

A female Pintail is on the River calder at Saville Town this afternoon.It stands out from the mallard in being much slimmer with a much greyer body and a longish slim neck with a delicate bill.When it flies the rear traling edge to the wing panel is bright whitish with the front white panel being...

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04/08/2015 19:39

All quiet on the South Western front

Whenever the wind goes and stays in the South Westerly direction for a few days there never seems to be as many birds around. There are still 3 Green Sandpipers on the sewage works at Dewsbury today.Also there today an immature Shellduck on the only water lagoon on the works.This later flew off to...

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30/07/2015 06:53

Lapwings on the increase

There are now 168-170 Lapwings on Dewsbury Sewage Works.The birds are flighty and are constantly moving to the fields across river to the rooftops of buildings on the Industrial estate.Still on the same site 10 Green Sandpipers with the party of 6 birds appearing to favour the muddy borders of the...

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28/07/2015 19:39

Rainy conditions bring a bit more life to old Sewage Beds

What a difference a steady spell of rain brings to the countryside. There are still 10 Green Sandpipers on the lower beds of Dewsbury Sewage Works.These are still made upof 2 parties one of 6 and one of 4.Wether these are two succesfull breeding parties or not I dont know they are difficult to...

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25/07/2015 17:00

10 Green Sandpipers.Might be a record for this site

There are are now 10 Green Sandpipers on Dewsbury Sewage Works.These consist of 2 parties 1 of 6 and a seperate party of 4.The birds are very difficult to approach and take off immediately as one gets within 60 to 80 yards. Also there today 4 Oyster catchers and 88 Lapwing.The Lapwings are spending...

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24/07/2015 16:46

Waders start to increase on local Sewage works

A party of 6 Green Sandpipers are now present on Dewsbury Sewage Works.Allthough conditions for waders have been very limited recently due to he dry weather patterns there are at least two beds with a good area of mud and the site now looks promising for any passing waders that are able to drop...

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21/07/2015 18:47

South Westerly winds not good for migration but local spots still worth keeping an eye on.

There are 3 Green Sandpipers on Dewsbury Sewage Works this afternoon along with 64 Lapwings and 3 Oyster Catchers.Small birds are rather scarce possibly due cto the rather fresh winds but there was 2 young Water Rail chicks on the central beds calling repeatedly.All Reed Warblers on the site where...

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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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