Conditions today were the same as yesterday apart from I got the soaking head on instead of down my right side with the wind now from the south as opposed to yesterdays west.
The morning was decent with good cloud cover and visibility but by late afternoon the sky looked reasonable until I got to my usual spot then once again the clouds broke bringing heavy horizontal drizzle over the Flat Moor, someone up there has it in for me.
This mornings birding was excellent with a record count of 48 Dunlin, most of these being on the south shore. I tried for another 2 to make the big 50 but not to be as yet. All the Dunlins present look to be of the race ' alpina' with bright rufous upper parts long legged and long billed, all showing black bellys being adults in full summer plumage with none that jump out and hit you as being , smaller, paler or shorter billed, 'arctica and schinzii'.
I,m sure we,ll never get an invasion of Dunlin like this again, I certainly don,t remember anything like it in the past.
A single Ringed Plover was present but very mobile and being of a different nature to that of the Dunlins. All the Ringed Plovers that have passed through have shown aggression towards the Common Sandpipers and are immediately moved on by the Lapwings guarding chicks though the Lapwings ignore the Dunlin present as if they are no threat but the Plovers are?
A Great Crested Grebe spent the day on the water whilst a Short Eared Owl quartered below the Nab early morning with 2 Raven over the Nab.
Around 50 Swifts were over Mixenden Reservoir as I passed this morning with several over Fly Flatts >N.
BS