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Friday, January 26, 2018

Pinks on the move and early spring at Fly Flatts

                                            Plenty vocal Red Grouse around
                                          Calm waters, very unusual.
                                   Herrings gulls moving >W throughout

                                 Unusual visitors, Lapwing
                                  Noisy Canadas building.
                Lapwings landing on the peninsular

                                     Great Black Backed heading >N


                                     Mallards over wintered here.

A free afternoon so arrived at Fly Flatts at 1345 hrs to sunshine and 40 % cloud cover, otherwise clear blue skies and calm water with a light N>3. A real taste of early spring in the air with Canadas constantly calling on the water along with Mallard whilst the moors were coming to life with the sound of Red Grouse.
                                  Scoping across towards the Aire valley NE from the NW corner I picked up a skein of 45 Pink Footed Geese heading due >N but very high and around 2 miles from me. By the time I re located them in the camera they were disappearing in the clouds but a good start of early Northward movement.
                                 Herring gulls were moving throughout all >W whilst a GBB gull flew >N over the Nab. A group of Lapwing flew around before settling on the east peninsular with a Raven cronking overhead beyond the Bumps.
                               To the south a flock of around 40 Golden Plover were put up by a Buzzard over the flat moor at Slade.
All in all a stonking 2 hrs watch at Fly Flatts.

45 Pink Footed Geese.......................>N
1 Great Black Backed gull...............>N
78 Herring gull.................................>W
21 Mallard
17 Canada geese
11 Lapwing
1 Buzzard
c 40 Golden Plover
sev Red Grouse.
1 Raven
BS