Fly Flatts reservoir.

 

                                    Tons of wasted shore.

                                Greenland Wheatear showing 7 primary tips

                                    3 Pied Wagtail

                                    8 Pink Footed geese >SE

                                    Going into the sun.

A bright sunny start to the morning with clear blue skies but mist banks over the western ridge. A cool W>2 at 6 degrees.

     The water is still receding with acres of muddy shore and pools but, as the norm at this site in autumn, not a wader to be found, which was expected but still a disappointment.

    A very quiet morning with the highlight being a Greenland Wheatear moving around the area showing a very colourful breast, long legs and 7 primary tips. Greenland Wheatears are always the last of the Wheatears to move through.

     Just 5 Canadas on the water, whilst overhead, 8 Pink Footed Geese headed>SE, 2 Kestrels were over the quarry and a steady trickle of Common gulls >NE. The Meadow Pipits are now gone with just 5 left on the shoreline along with 3 Pied Wagtails, whilst 3 Red Grouse were on the moor.

      Showing a damp and foggy day tomorrow with drizzle, fog and mist courtesy of a light SE at 9 degrees.

BS

Autumnal arrivals, Ogden.

 

                                    Early morn at Ogden

                                    3of 6 Tufted duck

                                        Very few gulls

                                    3 of 6 Teal

                                    2ad 1 juv Whooper Swan

                                    Gulls on the west bank.

A very windy wet start to the morning with a strong W>4 gusting 5 at 7 degrees and heavy showers with full cloud brightening by 0900 hrs.

    A better morning for wildfowl with Tufted duck up to 6 and Teal also giving a count of 6 along with Cormorants, 1 Goosander and 1 Little Grebe. As I got back to the promenade there were 2 adult and 1 juvenile Whooper Swan on the water which must have dropped down as I was walking through the trees with views of the water blanked out.

     The Chaffinch flock is building nicely but have not started feeding on the waterside weeds as yet and the leaves still on the trees makes a count difficult. Hopefully Brambling will soon join them which usually appear around mid October although the last decent count of this species was back in 2016 -17

with just singles since then, including last year.

   A few Tits and Goldcrests about and around 10 Redwing around the plantation tree tops.

A bright sunny morning given for tomorrow on a light westerly, remaining dry at 5 degrees, with cloud moving in after midday.

BS

Very wet, very windy. Ogden

 

                                    Around 80 mixed gulls present

                                Herring gulls outnumbered this morning

                                    No Yellow Legged today.

                                    Just 2 Teals found.

                                Long staying Goosander.

A very wet and windy morn at Ogden with a  near gale W>7 at 34 m.p.h. gusting gale force 8 at 

39 m.p.h. with a mix of heavy rain and drizzle blowing horizontally over the water. Full low cloud at a temp of 12 degrees.

    One of those dreaded situations where every time I lifted the bins they were either wet or steamed up making scanning very difficult. Around 80 gulls, mostly Black Headed and Common whilst Herring gull numbers outweighed LBBs, which was unusual.

    No sign of yesterdays Yellow Legged Herring gull and only 2 Teal found along with 2 Tufted and the usual Goosander and Cormorants, though scanning around the shore line was not easy.

    A Sparrowhawk skimmed through the passerine alley trees whilst the mornings highlight was the arrival of around 30 Redwings moving around in the car park tree tops.

    Another wet and windy day tomorrow with a force 6 westerly at 26 m.p.h. with sunshine and showers kicking off at 8 degrees.

BS

A livelier morning at Ogden.

 

                                    2 of 3 Teal

                                    Heron putting the gulls up

                                    Yellow Legged Herring gull

                                    Michahellis

A bright and sunny morn at Ogden on an icy cold NW>3 at 7 degrees.

    Around 100 mixed gulls present this morning spread between the east and west shore, the highlight being a real bruiser of an adult Yellow Legged Herring gull, briefly on the east back, before a Heron flying over put the whole shebang of gulls up and the YL ended up across on the west bank. There was no point in venturing along the west bank this morning with the brilliant sunshine blocking visibility.

    Passerine Alley was busy with a flock of the 4 common Tits as well as Chaffinch and a single Bullfinch. Around 5 Goldcrest were present, all carefully checked for Yellow Browed Warbler but no joy, even though the Shetlands are over-run with them at the moment.

    A Jay and a Raven flew high over the plantation whilst the usual 3 Teal, 1 Tufted and the Little Grebe were on the water as well as Cormorant and Goosander.

   A wet day expected for tomorrow with heavy rain turning to showers and some sunny periods with near gale to gale force westerlies at 12 degrees.

BS

    

    

Back to Ogden

 

                                    Same 3 Teal present

                                Skein of 41 Canada geese in to land

                                    Down to 35 gulls.

Rain then drizzle to start the morning then drying up by 0900 hrs with full cloud on a cool NW>3 at 9 degrees.

     A good start off when a Green Woodpecker flew over the promenade and disappeared into the Lodge House trees. The first sighting for me this year and only a single sighting of this species last year so a rare bird in a site where they used to be very common a few years back.

     Next was a skein of geese picked up in the bins coming from the direction of Soil Hill which I expected to be Pinks but as they got nearer in hearing distance they turned out to be Canadas which dropped down onto the water before settling on the NE shore.

   Otherwise it was down to the usual 3 Teal, Goosander, Little Grebe, Tufted duck and Cormorants with a very poor count of  35 mixed gulls. The Chaffinch flock is sticking at around 30 birds, so far, whilst at least 3 continental Blackbirds are present.

  Full sun in the morning clouding mid pm on a moderate NW starting at 5 degrees.

BS