Little Mama the White Goose

Wildlife Photography by AnnMackieMiller
Copyright 2011
'Little Mama covers the eggs before leaving them'

 This white goose laid her eggs around the 14th March on the Greenhill, under an ancient hawthorn tree.  She is actually one of a threesome and the little grey companion laid her eggs in the same nest much later in March.  This one seems to be doing all the sitting and is very dilligent.  However, she doesn't want to miss out on any treats going.  She sees me coming complete with plastic bag of dried pellets but she doesn't have time to wait in queues. 
She very quickly covers the eggs then she flies right to my feet on the tow path for her share.  I love it.  Just look at her underbelly where she has been plucking the feathers out to line the next.  What a mama!

Goose picture by AnnMackieMiller
Copyright 2011
'INCOMING!'

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Fowl Tales 2011 ...and so it begins... courting moorhens

At last, a mating pair of moorhens at Greenhill, well if not mating, certainly courting pair.    I heard her first, the females high call.  I spotted her just peeping out from behind a concrete slab, right up near the moored barges.  She was clearing calling to the male who, about the old turning point, responded with a much lower call.  She kept it up until he, taking his time about it, came across to her.  After their initial greeting, (reminisce of Romeo and Juliet), she came out and lead him along the shore a little before starting a ‘chase me chase me’ attempt in and out of the grassy tummocks there.  He was having none of it and stayed on the shore while she continued her calling and popping her head up above the grass from time to time to check where he was.  He eventually took to the water leaving her to wander back down to the shore and watch his departing white tail feathers.  It is early days and no sign of energetic nest building yet but that is something to look forward to.  The photos aren’t brilliant, lots of camera shake as I was hand-holding my 300mm lens NOTE TO SELF ‘get the tripod out for further visits!



female coyly peeping out as she called to her mate





Male arrives - "I'm here - but I took my own sweet time"





"Well Hello Big Boy"



"Chase me, Chase me"





"Like That is going to happen! Watch my tail feathers"





"Spoilsport"



Along the canal on Friday

On my dawdle along the canal today (Friday) I met most of the usual suspects but no swans.  Smudge was there with her beau, Mama Mallard with hers, the three Swedish ducks were near the hawthorn tree at Micklethwaite Wharf, half the geese were grazing in the high field on Greenfield while the other half were in the Greenfield on the other side of the allotments together with some Canada geese.  TweddleDum and TweddleDee the big white domestic ducks, were doing their synchronised swimming thing



while there were two new ducks, obvious escapees from the allotments.  A pair of large white ducks were sitting outside the fence of the allotments.  They look young and a bit like Maldovy ducks (thanks to my facebook/squidoo pals), but I'm not sure.  I suspect they might be male and I suspect but don't know that they have been released as surplus to requirements, better than being killed!

I also spotted a female goosander.  Sadly just the one, so no goosander babies though she did seem to be a bit friendly with a couple of male mallards.  I know mallards cross-breed but I don’t know if goosanders do.  Certainly goosanders are gregarious so maybe she just needed to be with other ducks. 

On my way back, I was just thinking that I had seen three of our usual four territorial moorhens when I discover there are now a pair of them at Micklethwaite Wharf.  More on that in the next blog.  

 

Water off a duck's back? Too Right!

Introducing my stretch of the Leeds to Liverpool canal

My Canal Landmarks

This is my home turf and this is where I do most of my photography.  I chose it because this seems to be the territory of the mating swans and ducks, they tend to move back and forward between the Five Rise Locks and Lingfield Wharf.  To make it easier later on I thought I would point out some significant landmarks for you.  All these refer to landmarks on the north bank, the opposite bank to the tow path.

The canal is the Leeds to Liverpool canal and my bit stretches from the outskirts of Bingley to the swing bridge at Lingfield Wharf.  The stretch I call home is less than two miles long and begins at the top of the Five Rise Locks at Bingley.  Walking away from Bingley, above the locks is the cafe where the wildfowl know they will find a ready supply of food during the summer months.  Indeed the owner of the cafe has been known to supply stale bread and cakes for visitors to feed them.

Next comes some barge moorings and the bottom of house gardens.  There is a small wooden pier, more boat moorings and then the boat yard.   Next door is  the Airedale Boat Club then more boat moorings, some of them permanent homes.  Grumps the mute swan is not averse to waking up the residents with a tap on the window to be fed.  This area is where the three Swedish ducks are most often found.

The end of the moorings is marked by twisted barb wire and opens up to the green field site known as Greenhill.  At the beginning of this stretch is an old hawthorn tree, and down to the canal side, tunnocks provide good cover for young moorhens. Greenhill stretch up away from the canal and is home to a flock of domestic geese, now wild.  They are mainly white Embden geese, brown Toulous geese, a greylag goose and various hybrid offspring.  There are about 40 permanent residents, the origins of whom were escapees from nearby allotments.    

This section goes from the end of the boat moorings to the swing bridge at Micklethwaite Wharf and includes a curve shallow area that at one time was a turning point for canal boats.  There is a lot of discarded rubble and concrete here from the time when there were landings for the mills here. 

On the other side of the swing bridge, the old Airedale Mills have been converted into homes, mainly flats, with small grassed gardens that are favourites of the Canada geese for grazing.  The end of the accommodations is marked by more old concrete landings, the bottom of the bramble field and various bushes and low trees. 

Next to that is what I call the reeds. This is a lush grass and reed area that has beautiful water lilies and wild irises in summer.

Next is the allotments and then a wooded area, a narrow stripe, a small coppice, with a steep bank leading up to a green field where some of the geese like to graze.  This wooded area had a lot of branches over-hanging the canal making it ideal cover for wildlife.

This ends where there is a concrete weir, the edge of the canal has a concrete shelve that drops down into a culvert for runoff. 

After that is a grassy bank, part of a garden for the house at Lingcroft Wharf and then there is the swing bridge over the road to East Morton.

So, for the purposes of my observations and photography along my stretch of the canal these are the landmarks I will refer to along our journey:

Five Rise Locks (includes the top of the locks, the cafe and the first boat moorings.)

The pier

The boat yard

The boat club

The barges

Greenhill and Micklethwaite wharf

Airedale mills

The bramble field

The reed bed

The allotments

The coppice

The weir

Lingcroft garden

Lingcroft wharf

Here is a VERY rough map that isn't even remotely in scale but should give you some idea of the lay of the land.

CORRECTION: Lingfield should read Lingcroft

  

 

Welcome to my new blog: Watching Bingley Birds

As you will gather, I am a keen birdwatching and photographer.  I prefer water birds and am lucky enough to live near the Leeds to Liverpool canal, near Bingley in West Yorkshire, England. 

This year I plan to document in words and photographs the wonderful array of birds in this part of the world.  I am particularly interested in bird behaviour so I hope I can capture the essense of what makes these creatures tick.

To start I need to introduce you to my neighbourhood.  There are three main areas I tend to go to most around here:

The Leeds to Liverpool canal at the bottom of my road - this is a stretch less than two miles long but teeming with life.  For me it starts at the top of the Five Rise Locks at Bingley.  This is a series of locks that raise and lower barges and canal boats.  Yorkshire is hilly - and the canal was a major feat of engineering in tackling how to get these heavy industrial boats up and down the hills.  You can read more about the canal in my lens on Squidoo -  Walking the Towpath
This stretch of canal is the most important for me but I do visit other stretches of the canal so will include sightings along there from time to time.

Coppice Pond on the St Ives Estate, Bingley - this is a large estate near Bingley that is now open to the public.  On part of it is the Coppice Pond, home to a large flock of Canada geese as well as coots, moorhens and so on.  The ranger has set up a feeding station for woodland birds so I often go up to watch them and the squirrels.

Myrtle Park in the centre of Bingley - this public park has the Aire River running through it.  So far I haven't studied the wildlife there much but mean to rectify that this year.

I spend most of my time at the canal.  Last year I was lucky enough to follow several wildfowl families through the breeding season with all the ups and downs that entailed.  I produced several small photobooks of their stories on Blurb.com and make several lenses on Squidoo.  This year, I mean to do even better and this blog is the start.  Part of it will be a diary in words and pictures, and part will be articles on the various birds I come across.  I may even throw in a little history now and then!

You can find the complete list of my storybook photography lenses that cover last year's stories of my favourite wildfowl families CLICK HERE - on Squidoo

A Tale of Two Swans by AnnMackieMiller | Make Your Own Book