and was still present when I left.
A late kick off with Grand daughter duties so arrived at Fly Flatts at 1530 hrs on a warm afternoon with 90 % cloud cover and a slight E>3 increasing E>4.
Thinking the pair of Shoveler I found at Leeshaw this morning could,nt be beaten today I set my sights on Wheatear and Common Scoter, neither of which developed.
Halfway along the south shore I scanned the water to find Canadas, 2 Greylag and the usual Mallards along with 2 LBB gulls on the water. A further scan found a smaller gull on a buoy well out and to the north of the clubhouse . Going by the jizz of the bird I could see it was a Tern by the way it was crouching and as I went all last year with no Tern at all either a Common or Arctic would be a bonus. All I had to do now was find which sp it was. That was a job for Big Bertha or walk back to the car for the scope. Finding a better vantage point I shot some pics off and was amazed to find the blown up images revealing a black bill with yellow tip, black legs and a tuft on its head . I was looking at a Sandwich Tern which is a mega if not first for Calderdale area and certainly a new bird for Fly Flatts. Luckily the light was good as I was working at 960 mm so I managed to get some satisfying shots.
Just after I,d put the bird out on the grapevine I got a call from NCD who said he and DF had just driven along the top road and had seen me by the water not knowing I was looking at a Sandwich Tern. I told him the bird was still present and its location which was followed by a screech of brakes and clouds of smoke from DFs tyres as he burnt rubber getting back to the site. Luckily they got onto the bird which is always a pleasing result for the finder when someone else sees it. So in 7 days Fly Flatts has produced 2 Kittiwakes, 1 Osprey, several moving Buzzard, 3 Dunlin and a Sandwich Tern plus a pair of Shoveler just over the hill at Leeshaw. BS.