With a worsening of the weather by 1445 hrs with heavy drizzle and an increased wind SW>5-6
I thought Leeshaw was worth another bash in ideal conditions for Terns, Scoters, Gulls, Ducks and Waders if not for birders. After 15 minutes dry the heavens opened with heavy to torrential rain throughout driving across from the SW making it impossible to position the car to shelter under the tailgate although this helped to some extent.
JL was present for a time but soon headed home like a drowned rat. Unfortunately none of my target birds arrived with a near miss of 2 Common Scoters which must have overshot the runway ending up on Keighley Moor reservoir along with a Ringed Plover flyover, much to the joy of IH. Well done to Ian for being as foolhardy as me and getting out there.
A small group of Lesser Black Backed came in, during the heaviest of the rain, along with the Yellow Legged Herring gull, then by 1630 hrs good numbers of Black Headed started arriving keeping me alert watching for Terns sneaking through. I ended up with, 19 LBB, 61 BHG, 1 YL Herring and 3 Common gulls along with 2 Cormorant. Swallows were still moving through >S in the heavy rain.
By this time, the dogs were wet, I was wet, the camera was wet, the bins were wet, the scope was wet, so with nothing else to get wet we headed for home, which, as always, as we arrived home the sun shone in a blue sky. That was until the evening dog walk when we all got wet again.
BS