With a day of dense fog, drizzle and torrential rain yet again I,m thinking of exchanging my birding gear for a knitting machine.
This morning was a dog walk at Ogden in heavy drizzle and the fog so thick you could,nt see the water from the promenade.
With mist and fog still down late afternoon a second Ogden dog walk was in order with visibility across the water, reveling a few small gulls and Mallards, whilst heavy rain was approaching from the east where luckily, I just got back to the car in time before the heavens opened. Driving home was a nightmare when it became as black as night, foggy and absolutely lashing down with a similar forecast until Friday.
Not to dwell on the weather and to keep the blog rolling I,ve put together images of some of the special visitors to Fly Flatts so far this year which has been a cracking year until the beginning of autumn when it slowed down considerably.
A count of 97 species has been recorded so far with a bumper spring and summer for waders which unfortunately failed to continue through the autumn for some reason even though the shorelines were at an all time low. The star attraction were 3 Avocets through >SW early morning in atrocious conditions unfortunately escaping the camera which I hadnt had time to get out of the car as I had only just parked up.
Thanks to all my blog watchers for getting me over one and a quarter million page views.
5 visiting Shelduck
1 of 3 Turnstone
Whooper Swan
Snipe
Only 3 Twite so far
Short Eared Owls in the summer
Several Wheatear including Greenland sp.
1 of 5 Yellow Legged Herring gull
A good year for breeding Redshank
Peregrine
Stonechats always present
No shortage of Raven
Grey Wagtail
2 Peregrines
S.E.O.
Black Redstart
1 of 3 Greenshank
A rare visitor with only 1 tree, Willow Warbler
Golden Plover
The long staying Black Redstart
Greenshank
Common Sandpiper and Pied Wagtail
A good breeding year for Common Sandpiper
Some of the conditions to contend with, frozen water and snow.
An amazing year for Dunlin
Over 100 passed through with 48 present for several weeks
A rare inland bird but 9 visited Fly Flatts. Sanderling
1 out on the island.
Dunlin
Little Ringed Plover. Usually rare but 10 counted
1 of 2 Green Sandpiper.
Plenty skeins of Pink Footed Geese over
Shelduck
1 of 3 resident Barnacle geese
Pinkies
Snipe
Dunlin
Sanderling
YL Herring gull
Distant Ruff
Little Ringed Plover
2 distant Greenshank
Sanderling
Wheatear with a taste for Newts
Common upland summer bird , Curlew
as well as Lapwing
Golden Plover
A good count of 137 present
Oystercatchers
A good year for visiting Ringed Plover with 41 through
and 14 together for 2 days.
A poor year for Common Scoter with just 2 found
Buzzard mobbed with Goldies
Buzzard
Greenland Wheatear
Ringed Plover
A 1st for this site, Bar Headed Goose
Common Scoter
More Sanderling
Merlin
Another 1st for this site, Mute Swan.
That should keep you occupied for a bit.
BS
