for our food.
Another late afternoon visit to Fly Flatts and once again the sun was beating down but the east wind was doing a good job of keeping the temperature down though less strength than yesterday with an E>4 . Tomorrow,s another story with a very light E>2 forecast for the afternoon and still high temperatures but I,ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Black Headed gulls are starting to move in both on the water and along the eastern bank which is unusual for this site but no big gulls today.
A single Dunlin was on the lagoon constantly probing for food which had a few worrying moments when it kept sinking to the tops of its legs and struggling to get free. I know the feeling, been there and done that at the expense of a pair of rigger boots which are still underground somewhere on Soil Hill. Not easy walking back over Soil Hill to the car in socks.
The second time I did it was stepping onto a boulder in a water filled trench and the boulder went under and me with it. That one cost me a scope, the joys of birding.
Common Sandpipers were once again everywhere but the moors are very quiet now without the Curlew, Redshank and Lapwings whilst Red Grouse numbers seem extremely low with very few seen or heard and no sign of keepers with bags of seed as yet.
Not good news that numbers are down but one consolation is that if they dont make the count they,ll be no shooting on the moor, hopefully. Last year saw very few shoots in this area.
BS