The bird walk organised by FoBM in conjunction with Bradford Ornithological Group was enjoyable. A couple of raptors that we saw made the whole morning worthwhile.

Thanks to the excellent knowledge of Shaun and the BOG members we were able to identify 34 different bird species on the walk. The simple “quiz” that had been promised was to guess the number of species we would be able to identify. The initial guesses were Maggie – 10, Pat – 19 and Linda – 35; so Linda won the prize, a bag of sweets to bring on the next group walk.

With the walk starting from the Eaves car park it was not surprising that the first bird seen was a Jackdaw. This was then followed by Blackbird, Rook, Black Headed Gull, Willow Warbler, Collared Dove, Wren, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Swallow, Meadow Pippit, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Swift, Goldfinch, Whitethroat, Magpie, Pheasant, Stock Dove, Curlew, Pied Wagtail, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Oyster Catcher, Long Tailed Tit, Lapwing, Blue Tit, Mistle Thrush, Starling and House Martin plus two raptors.

I managed to get several photos on the walk but one of the biggest things I got out of the walk was to listen to the BOG members. After hearing a bird singing they could identify the bird and then with that knowledge know where to look for it. They would be able to suggest to look towards the tops of some of the small trees or in the middle of the bushes or on the tops of the bracken or on walls or in the grass. I am looking forward to more walks and hope that plenty of people read this so that they are encouraged to keep an eye on our events timetable and join us in the future. To be kept up to date you can subscribe to this website (you can also subscribe to the newsletter) you can like us on Facebook or follow @BaildonVillage or @BaildonTown