Late afternoon and a full day of continuous heavy rain and strong winds with Fly Flatts unworkable
again so another visit to Leeshaw reservoir where the rain lashed down throughout, with a strong wind which had turned SW>6 making a lot of difference to yesterdays gull movement.
With the team kitted out in another set of dry coats and me in full winter waterproof regatta I walked down to the bottom of the track to check the stream and get the dogs walked finding the stream a raging torrent well over the banking.
Back behind the tailgate of the car I settled down to some reservoir watching but the change in wind to SW had stopped any movement of big gulls and Curlews with just a few small gulls present.
A count of 22 Oystercatchers were present , mostly in one field but no sign of yesterdays leucistic bird which I had hoped to get some better shots of as it seemed to attract a lot of interest from non local birders with several e mails and text remarking on it. It certainly is an odd specimen looking like a Black Winged Stilt from a distance.
Several Mallards had appeared on the water and 3 Teal dropped in briefly before moving on whilst the usual Cormorants were still on the water.
The Lapwings that were holding territory had moved to higher ground away from the flooded fields along with Curlews.
On the way back Oxenhope was flooded in several places with water pouring out of the fields onto the roads, then the daughter rang ,who lives at Kebroyd ,Sowerby Bridge to say lots of people were stood on the bridge watching the river which was right at the top and flooding the road near the library. Strange, we never get flooding in Queensbury.!
Raggalds Flood in now the size of Malham Tarn with around 15 Mallards and the single Redshank as I passed on the way home where it had finally stopped raining.
BS