for Fly Flatts.
A nice E>3 with 90 % cloud cover made the conditions decent this morning but still nothing on the move. Luckily the Peregrine has,nt been seen here for the last 2 days , unless I missed it, and things have been getting back to normal with geese and gulls now using the east bank again. Several of the Canadas and the 2 Greylag families have now left the area whilst others are moving between here and Cold Edge dams.
Just 7 LBB gulls on the east shore with the only wader present being the long staying Ringed Plover back at the ponds. Meadow Pipit numbers are building up daily now with around 100 on the south shore and ponds area. 3 full adult Wheatears in autumn plumage were along the south bank area but very mobile.
The afternoon watch started of with blue skies and sunshine at 21 degrees but as I set off to do the long walk of the reservoir black clouds started to develop to the south east of me.
Not liking the look of the storm clouds I went back to the car to see how it developed, then a call from Lynda saying Queensbury was getting a bad storm. Rain I can handle but being at the highest point of an open moor with an aluminium tripod/lightening conductor in front of you is not an ideal situation. The first spots of rain, a distant rumble and a far off flash got me tackling up slowly, then a distant long fork across the sky over Halifax got me tackling up much faster.
Whilst all this was going on I was counting Swifts overhead moving fast and direct >SE heading into the bright bank of sky along the east horizon. Just over 200 passed over me but they looked to be moving on a broad front with birds visible through the bins from the Nab to the western ridge.
Driving home I went through the eye of the storm at Mixenden where roads were flooding and the rain was more than the wipers could handle at one point with a pitch black sky.
At this rate Fly Flatts is going to be back up to near full shortly when its now suppose to be nearly empty. Apparently they can only drain it at a certain rate due to conservationists saying it would wash wildlife away in the stream that acts as an outlet.
Rain and north westerlies tomorrow with more storm warnings but the worry now is thick fog tonight at Queensbury which has a good chance of being here in the morning.
BS