Using up a bit of my parole this evening I headed up to Soil Hill to check the situation.
Actually in shirt sleeves tonight which has got to be a one off and the sun was still burning down with wall to wall blue sky .
Real raptor looking skies but surprisingly void of movers other than a couple of LBB gulls.
The hill itself was buzzing with the resident birds counting at least 12 Skylark and 40+ Meadow Pipits.
The Shay fields were full of Corvids and Lapwings after a days muck spreading although the 2 resident pair of Lapwings were doing a good job of seeing everything off.
The pair of Oystercatchers were nowhere to be seen, possibly due to the Lapwings, although a single Curlew was still present.
A Snipe was up drumming briefly whilst a pair of Pheasant and 3 Grey Partridge kept low in the long grass.
A good check on the tree line and Ring Ouzel clough failed in producing but I managed to scrape up 5 female Wheatear , 3 around the north slope, 1 at the bottom of the clough and 1 briefly by the mast.
BS