A couple of hours to spend whilst the dogs were getting their make overs at the groomers so arrived at Fly Flatts at 1300 hrs greeted by an icy cold WNW>5 and 80 % cloud cover which later reduced to 40 % as the sun appeared.
After dipping the last few trips it finally came back round to my turn for birds with things much livelier up there despite the strong wind. Buzzards were the first birds of note with 2 well out over the moor slowly drifting >SW. This sighting was quickly followed by a Peregrine high and distant then dropping over the moor to the NW with a Raven very agitated nearby.
Sky watching from the NW corner of the water picked up 3 grey geese well out to the SE heading west and very high. After 2 minutes getting the camera onto the tripod the birds had disappeared from sight but luckily, after diverting in a giant arc , re appeared over the Nab and again heading west in my direction. The 3 , which turned out to be Pinkies and not Bean goose as I had hoped, kept high but flew directly over the top of me and I found out why bird photographer Arthur Morris says you should always use a Gimbal head on your tripod as my camera wouldnt tilt vertical enough to get them overhead using a standard Manfrotto swivel head.
The 3 Pinkies dropped over the west ridge and were picked up by Pete Grba as they landed on Withens Clough.
Down by the feeding station at least 5 Stonechat and a single Reed Bunting were present.
With about 15 minutes spare before picking the dogs up I dropped in at Cold Edge to check the goose field which produced 78 Canadas, 2 Barnacle and 2 Greylag.
BS