By the time I got out late afternoon the winds had got back up to strength W>6 gusting 7 and again very heavy rain showers .
First stop was Mixenden where the wind was creating white horses across the water and viewing only possible from the west shore with back to the wind and slightly sheltered in the trees.
A single Gt Crested Grebe was present along with 1 drake Tufted tagging along with 5 Mallard. The 6 were very mobile flying circuits of the water before landing again.
After a walk ,or being blown, once around the water to make sure nothing was sheltering under the edges if was off for a quick visit to Cold Edge Dams where the weather made Mixenden look like the south of France.
The wind was howling across the moor making it near impossible to stand up on the banking whilst horizontal rain stung the face.
Just 2 Canadas on the lower dam and as DJS remarked, all bird activity was in the shelter of the lower fields.
78 Canadas and 4 Greylag were grazing whilst 4 Redshank and 5 Oystercatchers were mobile along with 3 Curlews.
Checking the Stonechat and Wheatear hotspots in the area discovered just a few Meadow Pipits.
Looks like I won,t be getting a March Wheatear this year unless one lands in the garage car park in the next 2 days.
BS