Fly Flatts. On the early shift, 1330-1530 hrs. Perfect conditions with bright grey skies and a strong
W>5 dropping to W>3 with sun blanked out until end of watch, luckily.
One of the beauties of sticking to a local area is that you rarely get 2 days alike and today was no exception. Tuesday I spent my time watching Stone and Whinchats but today, not a Chat of any description in the area. Instead I got a hint of waders on the move with 3 Redshank fresh in which were obviously moving birds as the resident Redshanks left some weeks ago. One of the Redshanks was briefly on the west bank cobbles giving me a distant shot before it joined the other 2 in the far NE corner. A promising sighting. As far as I can see now just 1 Common Sandpiper remains hanging around the SE corner and will probably be gone any day now.
Wheatears are still sticking around the feeding station area with at least 9 present today but still none showing along the top road. All the birds present are in some stage of heavy moult and juvs out numbering adults. Hopefully the Greenlands will soon start showing though these are usually the last through.
A single Snipe shot up from the beck but kept low over the moor avoiding the camera whilst a Grey Wagtail was down in the same area. Swifts were in good numbers drifting >N over the Nab.
BS