find small waders in all that mud.
If you think you have Coronavirus get up to Fly Flatts.
The weather there kills all known germs , and sheep.
A real grim morning at Ogden today where the rain was leathering it down on a strong W>6 with low cloud. Very hard to look over the water into the horizontal rain but 1 suspicious lonely duck in the centre was the Mandarin returned, unless it never left. As the rain got even heavier it went across under the Willows on the east bank near to passerine alley.
Just 5 Canadas on the water along with 15 Herring gulls, these being 2 adults and 13 first winter birds. Back to the car then to wring the dogs out and try get my waterproofs dry once again ready for the afternoon session. Good to bump into a wringing wet through Carolyn on a dog walk and Whooper watch mission.
Quite a bit drier late afternoon at Fly Flatts with just a few heavy showers but still wet me through so it may just have well rained throughout. The wind was the feature with a gale force W>8 blowing at 42 m.p.h. on the anemometer making walking the east bank difficult but I was on a wader finding mission so it did,nt matter.
Understandably there was no sign of the Ringed Plover or Dunlin from yesterday which were both probably sheltering in one of the many trenches though 4 Lapwings and a single Curlew were sitting it out on the NW shore.
A real smell of Kittiwake today in ideal conditions with all my previous Fly Flatts sightings being 7th, 17th, 22nd and 23rd of March so any time now although I,m not sure if I really want to see one or not as its said that 90% of Kittiwakes blown inland die as they find it hard to feed away from the coast which could explain the one I found dead at Fly Flatts 2 years ago and the sickly looking bird on Shibden park lake in Feb 2014.
Ogden
1 drake Mandarin duck
15 Herring gull
5 Canadas
Mallards
Fly Flatts
Canada geese,
Mallards
1 Curlew
4 Lapwing
Raggalds Flood
1 Redshank........ 2 weeks earlier than normal.
BS