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

03/06/2014 18:02

Mandarins showing well this morning and first tiny Goosander chicks arrive on the Calder near Dewsbury

A pair of Mandarinn Ducks have been on the Calder near Dewsbury for over a week now and it looks like they will be looking for suitable spots for breeding. This is about the 4th year this species has turned up on the Calder at this time of year an event that prompted us to erect nesting boxes at...

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26/05/2014 18:45

Rare Visitor on my local patch today

Imagine my surprise today when in the middle of trying to coax singing Reed Warblers to my I Pod from a bed on Dewsbury Sewage Works a Heron flushed from the Reeds uttering a slightly different call.I raised my glasses to have a quick luck and to my surprise instead of the usual grey and black...

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20/05/2014 19:59

Local Breeders continue to arrive.

Both Reed and Sedge Warblers  continue to increase on local sites.Dewsbury Sewage Works now has 7 singing male Reed Warblers along with 6 singing Sedge Warblers nearby on Kerries small marshy area there are 3 singing Sedge Warblers and a singing Reed Warbler. Also  on Dewsbury Sewage...

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16/05/2014 16:45

Little Grebe breeds succesfully on Local Sewage Works.

A Little Grebe has succesfully bred on Dewsbury Sewage works for the first time.The fully indepentant chick was swimming along with its mother on one of the lagoons this afternoon. Also there are signs that Summer Visitors are still arriving on to our local patch with 3 more singing Reed Warblers...

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13/05/2014 13:28

Cuckoo arrives on my local patch

A Cuckoo flew on to Dewsbury Sewage Works this morning calling as it arrived.The bird stayed for some 14 minutes before flying off on to Mill Bank Thornhill where it continued to call. also this morning a significant movement of Swifts up our part of the Calder Valley with some 600 birds per hour...

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08/05/2014 17:33

Drizzly conditions bring both Swifts and House Martins to move westerly up the valley.

Good numbers of Swifts and House Martins where moving slowly up the Calder Valley this morning with the onset of heavy drizzle and very low cloud combined with a light to Moderate South Westerly wind. About 160 House Martins and some 42 Swifts where over the filter beds on Dewsbury Sewage works but...

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07/05/2014 12:55

Fancy a birding trip to the Gambia

Fancy a birding trip to the Gambia. Enjoy a great birding list,superb photographic opportunities and excellenmt accomodation with good food and drink. If your interested contact PA JALLOW via the contact details on this website.Any size parties wecome.

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06/05/2014 17:57

Mandarins back on the river Calder at Ossett

A stunning male Mandarin Duck flew down the calder near healy Road Ossett this morning.With recent sightings of a female bird in the same area over the last 2 weeks we have to conclude that the birds are intent on breeding in the area over the next few weeks. Summer visitors appear to still be a...

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02/05/2014 20:11

House Martins in good numbers on the local Works.

A flock os some 140 House Martins where over the sprinkler beds of Dewsbury Sewage Works this morning with small numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins. There are now 5 Gadwall on the same area together with 8 Tufted ducks.There are no Teal on the Sewage works but this morning still 2 Little...

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30/04/2014 21:47

Local summer visitors still slow to arrive but impression is encouraging.

Its nice to walk on to your local patch and hear the sound of singing and displaying Whitethroats and Acrochephalus Warblers newly arrived. Such was the experience I had when venturing on to the Reserve at Kerries Foods this morning.Theres 4 singing Male Blackcaps,4 singing Chiff Chaffs and 3...

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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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