The 2 Barnacles are a fixture here this year
out of 28 against all odds of Gulls, Peregrines, Ravens
and Weasels + having a daft mother.
After a real cracking day yesterday I was soon brought back down to earth today with terrible conditions stopping the job dead.
Morning was slightly better of the two with a light NE>2 but by late afternoon the temperature was up at 21 degrees with patchy sunshine and dead calm with not a breath of air and tons of midges,the blue skies remaining birdless.
The only wader today was a single Common Sandpiper by the ponds whilst a check of the east shoreline from the NE corner found the juv Peregrine sat on the mud until the second bird appeared and they flew off together >NW.
Not surprisingly, only 12 LBB gulls were present on the North shore
whilst a few Black Headeds are slowly trickling back in. No passerines present today by the feeding station with just a single Red Legged Partridge. With August 12th quickly approaching its seeming like another poor year for Red Grouse with very few seen or heard around the nearby moor.
This afternoons watch was down to geese and a few gulls with an early finish in a hope of a good westerly wind tomorrow and some nice cloud. The ponds are drying out now so a few heavy showers would be welcome.
BS