West Yorks

Me and Mark took a jaunt around West Yorks today starting at Pugneys CP where we soon located the juvenile Great Northern Diver and got fairly close to it as we walked round the main lake, there was a good selection of other birds present but nothing more out of the ordinary, next up was Anglers CP and again we took a nice stroll around the lake in the lovely sunshine, searching through another good selection of water birds and eventually found the drake American Wigeon that is still present and after a tip off from another birder we nipped across to nearby Wintersett Reservoir and saw a superb drake Smew as well. We then headed back to Fairburn but a nice day coupled with the time of year meant the place was heaving, a Kingfisher was showing from the screen but it was a bit far down the channel to be able to get a decent photo really and the people pressure at the screen became a bit too much so we retreated to Lin Dyke, there had been a female Smew from the hide earlier in the day but there was no sign of it this afternoon, still all in all a pretty good day.

Goldeneye taking off sequence

a bit of sun makes all the difference

decided to stretch its wings

unfortunately its American cousin didn't come close

bathed in late afternoon sunshine