Also on this stretch of river is a Dipper though obviously it's a little more difficult to catch up with. A better bet is the stream at Eastergate Bridge near Marsden where a little patience should be rewarded. A single bird was ranging quite widely there this morning.
Best bird this morning was a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again, this time at Cascade Bridge. It was way beyond camera range in the tree tops but showed well for around five minutes before disappearing into Menagerie Wood. A mixed flock of finches containing good numbers of Siskin & Redpoll along the riverside was another notable find.
The herons are refinding their tree-legs as they start to get territorial whilst at the feeding station I got some filthy looks from the usual freeloaders for forgetting to bring any treats.
Roll Call: Grey Heron (30+), Mute Swan (3), Canada Goose (50+), Mallard, Teal (8), Goosander (21), Kestrel, Black-headed Gull (150+), Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (1 fem), Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Jay, Starling, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch (Year List 43)
As has been reported on the UK400 Club blog, many thousands of Bohemian Waxwings have been pouring into towns and cities in southern Sweden this week. There's nothing too unusual about this as the birds are well known for their irruptive migrations when food becomes scarce, but should supplies of berries and fruit in their native countries become exhausted, then they could be in trouble.
Any deciding to risk the North Sea crossing to the normally milder UK may well end up making a one way trip. With the enormous wintering flocks of Scandinavian thrushes being forced off the fields by the snow, there's precious little left in the way of rowan and hedgerow berries - the Waxwing's preferred diet.Having recently witnessed hundreds of frenzied Fieldfare in the centre of Dewsbury stripping all the berry-bearing trees in next to no time (a bizarre sight that turned many a head), and noted evidence of similar behaviour in Huddersfield, any Waxwing making it to this part of the world in the next few weeks could seriously struggle.
The West Riding conurbation has hosted spectacular numbers of this beautiful species during my time birding - but let's hope they decide against gracing us on this occasion for their own sake.
A handful of Mallard on the Dearne were the only wildfowl at the beginning of the month so it was good to see that useful numbers of Goosander had returned after the thaw. 
At least forty were noted on Lower Lake this morning along with a similar number of Grey Herons - many of which were already reclaiming nest sites for the fast approaching breeding season.
Roll call: Great Crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Barnacle Goose (usual single with Canadas), Mallard, Teal, Goosander (40+), Grey Heron, Pheasant, Moorhen, Black-headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Bullfinch (Year List 40)
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Read about it here.
