mixed in.
A real blustery, snowy day up here on the tops with some heavy snow and hail showers but the light covering soon melting at 3 degrees.
Just deciding where to go this morning in the conditions when the daughter rang me from t' tuther side of Sowerby Bridge to say she had locked hersen out of her house, numski, so that was my trip planned going over with a spare key! By the time I got back there was just time for a dog walk around Foxhill.
A shopping trip in the afternoon found a flock of around 40 Redwing in Rowan trees around Pellon Lane , Argos area, along with several Mistle Thrush, Blackbirds and about a dozen Greenfinch. The latter being a rare bird for the area from being a common sight a few years back. Unbelievably this was my first Greenfinch sighting this year.
Late afternoon and a mixture of sunshine and snow showers decided me on another trip to Leeshaw reservoir which was very active throughout despite having to huddle under the car tailgate a few times to avoid getting battered with snow and hail pounding through horizontally on a W>5 gusting 6.
The water held the usual small gulls as well as 1 Greylag goose,
1 Cormorant and 3 Goosander, 2 males and 1 female, whilst 32 Mallard were mobile moving off the water and into the fields as each snow shower came through. There seems to be some good counts of Mallard around just now with 32 here and 48 at Fly Flatts whilst PG yesterday mentioned that he was getting big counts around local waters.
Fieldfare and Starling were everywhere with the Fieldfare flock now built up to around 200 birds with c250 Starling and about 20 Redwing making an amazing sight as they move from field to field. The small group of 6 Meadow Pipits were still present in the stubble field.
I,d sat out 3 good snow/hail showers but by 1500 hrs a real blaster came in quickly covering the track so I thought it best to get out of there fast which was a good move as the drive out of Oxenhope was a nightmare with cars already getting stuck , especially going up the hill past the Dog and Gun and on past Thornton Moor with the snow and hail packed down and frozen on the road.
By the time I got back to Denholme Gate all was clear, even Queensbury surprisingly.
BS