missing the Oxenhope gulls at Huddersfield.
very young chick.
Oxenhope 1600-1730 hrs. Very cloudy, NW>5 then heavy rain. Visibility, Drax.
As always,nearly anyway, another interesting visit to Oxenhope where the gulls were wall to wall with c 700 LBBs, 21 Herring and 2 Black Headed. The birds were very fidgety and easily flushed, once with Carrion crows and once with a helicopter, which was annoying when I,d got half way through scoping them and the whole shebang took off so I,d to start again once they had settled.
Nothing amongst the Herrings that made me suspect a Yellow Legged although most had their legs submerged but you can usually tell by the head, but I always like to see the legs to confirm it.
The Curlew roost seems to have disbanded and moved on now as only 3 were present unless it was down to the wet conditions and they were keeping their heads down.
2 Oystercatchers were present and a pair of Common Sandpipers were warning me off having a very young chick which disappeared very quickly into the undergrowth which I did the same so as not to cause any disturbance.
A fitting end to a decent days birding.
I saw from the log that CK had been up a.m. and got more or less the same gull count as me.
BS