A bright clear start to the morning which only lasted until I was unloading at Fly Flatts then a massive bank of fog engulfed the area and not clearing throughout. A very light N>2 with a temperature of 7 degrees , neither helping to shift the fog.
A check of the track and ponds feeding areas just produced 2 Mipits on the seed in the SE pond area. A long wait in vain hoping from some clearance which never happened.
By late afternoon the fog was still over the tops of the turbines so over the hill to Leeshaw reservoir to see if any of HCs Whoopers were still moving from midday.
Very dark skies and not a breath of wind causing a strong reflection on the water made photography poor working at a very high iso reading to try get enough light. The 1.4 Sigma converter bought last weekend is still in my pocket unused with the daily bad light conditions.
4m and 4 f Goosanders were nice to see out on the water along with a few small gulls and a Heron close by.
Big gulls dominated the day with 12 Herring and 18 LBBs on the dam wall, these mostly being 1st winter birds whilst overhead, what I thought at first to be Pinkies, were big gulls very high in large formation groups heading >E, the majority , if not all, being Herrings but way too high to be sure giving a total count of 525 birds. An amazing spectacle to watch.
Thanks to HC for his shout of Whoopers today, see his report on Bradford birders blog, as he watched from Marley sewage works between Bingley and Keighley. Marley used to be an excellent site years ago when we had key access to the gates and many hours were spent there with some good birds turned up like the Night Heron we went to see at last light in driving snow. I dont think there is any access now but not sure about that one.
BS