With talk of a Med gull sighting at Redcar Tarn along with 2 Terns plus the ideal sea bird/ waterfowl weather movement I thought Redcar Tarn would be worth a try seeing as Fly Flatts would be unworkable in the gale force winds .
The weather up on the tops above Keighley was wild to say the least with a near gale W>7 gusting gale W>8 with horizontal lashing drizzle showers. On the bright side the track around the water is tarmac so it would save me bathing the dogs when we got home which has been a nightly chore lately with everywhere muddied up.
Its unbelievable how this remote area of water with a lot of disturbance , even model boats some evenings, attracts so many gulls and wildfowl with several rarities over the winter.
Although there was nothing super special today the water was packed with Mallards, Canadas, Tufteds, Goosanders, Coots, Moorhens plus a ton of feral ducks and geese.
Over 100 Black Headed gulls and around 40 Lesser Black Backed were present but no sign of winter gulls as yet and no Terns which I believe must be extinct, Ive had 1 local Common gull in 2 years.
Not my type of birding, duck pond birding, but certainly a place to keep an eye on over the winter as at this location anything can turn up and frequently does. Apart from that its a good spot to practice birds in flight photography as my delete box found out tonight.
BS