A reasonable start to the late afternoon watch at Fly Flatts with still the dark rolling clouds and rough water but the south wind reduced to 36 mph making a walk on the west bank possible. That was until I got half way back along the banking when the biggest blackest cloud ever appeared from nowhere nearly blacking out the area.
Within minutes I was getting large specks of rain and the anemometer was giving a reading of 46.9 mph making us divert off the banking and down to the feeding station area to walk back up the track in relative shelter.
Back on the south shore the cloud had moved over and the wind speed back in the 30s with a temperature of 18 degrees so a carefully positioned car gave me some cover under the tailgate for a sky watch, as so far not a bird had been seen.
Once again it was down to the gulls to provide the action with a steady flow throughout, all >SW and mainly low with a few settling on the water briefly. Checking them out for anything special was no easy task in the poor light and it was a case of , now you see it, now you don,t, as the minute you took your eye off a bird it was hard to relocate.
Two Raven were above the Nab and 3 Golden Plover flew low over the Flatt moor, otherwise just the usual Kestrels were up.
41 Black Headed gulls
7 Herring gulls
19 Lesser Black Backed
1 Common gull
4 unidentified
all >SW.
1 Mistle Thrush low over the water >W
A light westerly turning north westerly with rain for the morning so see what another dabble produces.
BS
WEST YORKSHIRE BIRDING. BRIAN SUMNER. I am based at Queensbury and bird a patch within a 10 mile range of home incorporating 16 stretches of water, several plantations, a belt of woodland, stretches of river and canal and good areas of moorland. I specialize in upland birds, reservoir and sky watching. My local patch is Fly Flatts reservoir. Any reports can be sent by text or call to 07771 705024 or see profile for e mail address. All images on this blog are copyright.(2024).