with Ringed Plover juv in the foreground.
My sort of weather at last with a morning of heavy drizzle throughout blown horizontally over the water on a SW>5. The cloud base was just covering the turbines and the moor was fogged of but managed to keep visibility over the water. Late afternoon watch started with drizzle and low misty clouds on a moderate W>6 at 27 m.p.h. but this soon cleared turning sunny and blue skies but still with the strong westerly.
This morning looked ideal for Terns and Scoters but neither happened although it did incite the gulls to move with Black Headeds being the star turn with 83 >SW low over the water whilst 27 were in the field opposite the Crossroads Inn and around 40 in the Bonnet fields above Bradshaw. A few LBBs and Herring gulls headed in the same direction.
During the worst of this mornings weather 2 Ringed Plovers came in from the SE and dropped onto the east bank in the distant. When I caught up to them this afternoon, looking across from the NW end of the banking ,1 was an adult male and the second bird a juvenile.
Otherwise this morning the juv Peregrine flew near the east banking but was quickly seen off by 1 of 4 Raven.
This afternoon , after watching the Ringed Plovers at the north end of the east banking, I found a juv Wheatear flitting about in the far corner of the south lagoon. Several Swifts were feeding overhead as they drifted NW into the wind.
I did,nt know the cavalry was on hand yesterday afternoon with a report from KM , who was up on the top road and saw 4 small waders fly from the east bank towards me at the other end of the water but it was just at the time when the fog dropped so unfortunately they got away and must have moved on as the fog cleared later in the evening. Keith had no chance of identifying the birds in the conditions and at distance but possibly Dunlin. Thanks for letting me know Keith.
Well worth watching up there now with immense areas of mud as the water drops daily. This is making the south bank waterline harder to watch and a scope is needed as it gets further away from the track whereas the east bank waterline is getting nearer to the west bank but the muddy area is harder to cover, especially after rain when it reflects back at you.
BS