button hole eye as some do. Something to look for on Caspians.
gulls so brings her last survivor to meet the gulls ?????
A decent morning with 90 % cloud cover and a cool >SW3 which had turned NW>3
by late p.m. with full yukky sunshine.
So far in July Fly Flatts ( or the Shetlands of Yorkshire as Lynda calls it), have provided a new bird each day and today continued the trend with the new bird being a Cormorant this morning and then 3 Oystercatchers this p.m.
I know Cormorant sounds a common sighting but is actually a rare species at Fly Flatts with todays bird being only the second sighting this year. It did,nt take this bird long to find out why, after about 5 dives it realized that there are no fish in this acidic water so it spiralled upwards and away high and >NE.
The second newcomers of the day were 3 Oystercatchers in to the east bank this afternoon.
After a good trudge around and check for waders, which provided 2 Ringed Plover and 3 Common Sandpipers, it was settle down to watch the gulls along with a bit of sky watching.
109 big gulls were present this morning with only 4 Herring among them whilst a Black Headed was on the water making me grab the scope sharpish in thoughts of Med gull but not this time.
By late afternoon only 18 LBBs were present for some reason as numbers usually build up by the afternoon watch.
Plenty Swifts over again along with several Swallows whilst 3 noisy Raven were over the Nab.
Good local news today to have Redstart back breeding in Shibden Valley after a long absence following a report of a juvenile down there today with a good photo on Bradfords blog, thanks to CK.
Redstart used to be a common sighting many moons ago throughout Shibden Valley, Queensbury old railway station and Ogden along the top track from the car park alongside the plantation but so were Yellowhammer and Lesser Whitethroat along with Pied and Spotted Flycatcher.
I have a report by Clifford Lees recording the dawn chorus down Shibden Valley with Redstart singing as early as 0330 hrs way back in 1962.
Clifford Lees,along with Irvine Morley, Vernon Crapnell and Frank Murgatroyd were birders that could put us all to shame without the aid of mobiles, cameras and fancy optics and 4 men that HC and myself had the privilege of getting knowledge from whilst out on field trips with them as members of the Halifax Scientific Society. Happy days.
BS