A twist of fate took me back to Fly Flatts this afternoon and got me my annual Osprey there.
1500 hrs and decided on Leeshaw to try for Wheatear and of course Osprey but the road to Oxenhope was closed for roadworks so it was make your mind up time. Do I go the long way round to Leeshaw or double back to Fly Flatts. With the WNW wind increasing I decided that Fly Flatts would be a good bet for sky movement so that was sorted.
On arrival at 1530 hrs the sky was clear with 30 % cloud cover and the sun was less of a nuisance being high in the sky with a WNW>5 , perfect.
Much quieter than this morning with more or less the same resident birds so set up shop half way along the west bank and waited.
It was,nt long before a move of Buzzards was apparent with 5 separate birds moving >NE way out along the west ridge around 10 minutes apart and all taking the same flight path away over Oxenhope.
Herring gulls were moving > NW with a count of 28 but some very high birds could have been missed. The dyke that runs along the side of the south track was alive with frogs and frogspawn which wont have much chance when the weekends freeze arrives.
1615 hrs and tackled up with the tripod on my back I headed back towards the car but as I got to the SW corner I could see a commotion of Lapwings way across Hollin Hill beyond the wind farm. A scan through the bins saw several Lapwing and Snipe in the air and below them low over the moor was my target bird, Osprey.
Panic stations, the bird was near to being out of range and the tripod was folded on my back. A quick dummy shot to check the light settings then once again, as with the Kittiwake, it was hand held in the wind. After a few record shots I dashed forward, dragging the dogs with me and getting tied up in the leads, to a nearby post to lean against for a bit of a steady.
The bird turned and looked as if it was going to head towards me so I ragged the tripod off my back but suddenly the bird turned and dropped down out of sight towards Thornton Moor.
About 10 minutes later several gulls and Lapwings were up past the NE corner beyond the Nab which was probably the Osprey heading North over the east ridge.
Last years Osprey was on the 30/05/2017 in the same area but that bird doubled back towards Cold Edge before turning to head back >N over Thornton Moor.
BS