1445 hrs and over to Redcar Tarn, Keighley to try to get away from the deep snow of Queensbury so the dogs could get a decent walk instead of them having to fight their way through snow up to their neck.
The sunshine was left behind as I climbed out of Keighley to find the Tarn in poor light but only a light covering of snow with the water half frozen over.
As always, the area was alive with gulls around the tarn and surrounding fields with little time to check through them. Wildfowl was poor with the usuals with nothing exotic amongst them whilst the surrounding hedges held several winter thrushes as well as Chaffinch and Blackbirds.
Golden Plover flocks were over the distant fields which held around 200 gulls. Cullingworth fields held around 1000 big gulls on the way back but again no time to stop and sift through them.
On the tarn :-
8 Herring gull
17 LBB gull
200 mixed Commons and Black Headeds
7 Tufted
150 + Mallard
21 Canada geese
8 Greylag
Coots and Moorhens
Sev Fieldfare , Redwing, Blackbirds and Chaffinch
c 50 Golden Plover, distant.
2 Sparrowhawks
3 Kestrel.
BS