1500 hrs and kitted up ready for the off but with a text from DJS saying he had covered Mixenden and Fly Flatts was fogged off it was a matter of all dressed up and nowhere to go.
As a last resort I set off for Ogden but on route I could see a break in the cloud to the west with the fog just above the wind turbines so a quick detour took me to Fly Flatts.
The fog had lifted but the rain was heavy throughout, blown down from The Nab on a NE>5 but surprisingly the solid ice reservoir from yesterday was completely thawed and the drifts across the track were now low enough to drive through with ease. At last we,re on our way.
A check of the boatyard area to start with produced 4 Meadow Pipits and a pair of very mobile Stonechats along with a low count of Canada geese and a single drake Mallard.
As I started to scan the shore along the front of the clubhouse a Dunlin lifted from behind a clump of reeds and flew low to drop down onto the moor in the SE corner making it a early returner rather than a passage bird.
On then to get some seed down with an increase in wind and rain along the west bank but 3 Curlews were up over the moor along with several noisy Red Grouse.
On the way back up the track a brown Peregrine skimmed low towards the flat moor then away over Slade.
Nice to bump into 2 new faces up there, Sailing club members William and Kate.
BS