bottle top.
Another day of strong south westerlies increasing by late afternoon bringing snow showers throughout the day at 2 degrees rising to 4 degrees.
A visit to Redcar Tarn this morning in hopes of a Med gull and thinking of the possibility of more Whoopers cutting across from the Aire valley.
A real bleak start to the visit with a strong SW>5 and horizontal snow storms which died out mid watch leaving a bright but windy morning.
No Med gull but surprisingly the 1st winter Caspian and the Iceland gull are still present but both birds headed for the fields shortly after finding them. Three laps of the water with the dogs produced a small flock of Chaffinch and Brambling deep in the Hawthorns and several Redwing in the higher trees. At one point 23 Herring gull were on the water along with 2 LBBs and all the usual species.
Good to meet up with James Longbottom and his dad giving the area a good coat of looking at. I,ve dealt with James for a long time now through e mails and texts etc but never met him so it was good to put a face to the name. James picked up on 2 Oystercatchers which I hadnt seen but each time I walked past the island the snow was so heavy I kept my head down.
Late afternoon and I thought I,d better frame missen and get agate to Fly Flatts to see whats developing. The wind was blowing SW>6 with some heavy snow showers but nice bright intervals in between and some good skies for sky watching.
A ray of hope at last with 22 Canadas returned , some on the water and others in the boat compound which is a good sign of things starting to move after a desolate 2 months. Birds attract birds so hopefully more species will now follow and its proved the water is deep enough to attract Whoopers which I usually get near the end of March up there.
Otherwise it was just down to 9 first winter Herring gulls heading >SW into the wind with a couple of Carrion Crow over the east ridge.
I was hoping for a morning visit up there tomorrow but the way the snow is coming down and drifting at the moment its looking a bit sad. At least February is out of the way and we can get started on the active months.
Redcar Tarn, Keighley
1 1st winter Caspian gull
1 1st winter Iceland gull
23 Herring gull
2 LBB gull
2 Oystercatchers
+ all usual sp.
Fly Flatts
9 Herring gull................>SW
22 Canada geese
2 Carrion Crow.
BS