disturbance for the Goldies all day.
helicopter over
Another decent day weather wise at Fly Flatts with a light SW>3 in the morning building to SW>5 by late afternoon. 100% cloud cover throughout after a misty start.
A real bad day for disturbance with the helicopter dropping bags of sphagnum moss on the moor every 5 minutes throughout the day flushing the Golden Plovers and everything around the water. Very poor organization to be dropping hundreds of bags onto the moor and gangs of people trampling about planting it just as breeding is starting.
With nothing left on or around the water other than Canadas I went in search of the Ring Ousel which I came across at the NE end below the vertical fence along with the first returning male Wheatear. The Wheatear went across onto the new boulder banking at the bottom of the north but re appeared late afternoon just below the top road above the boathouse near to the 2 plastic wrapped straw bales. The Ouzel also seemed to favour this spot after a quick visit to the boatyard.
A surprise today when the Blackbird I,d been trying to see for the last few days, then thinking it was the Ring Ouzel, appeared this morning with a second male Blackbird looking like possible continentals so I ended up with a flurry of 2 male Blackbirds, 1 male Ring Ouzel, a Wheatear and a 3 Pied Wagtails all in the same area.
Otherwise, the shoreline was as empty as Sainsburys shelves were this afternoon.
On the way back there were 2 Wheatear opposite the wind farm entrance and 1 in the Nolstar field.
Fly Flatts
1m Ring Ouzel
2m Blackbirds
2m 1f Pied Wagtail
4 Wheatear
4 Stonechat
c 50 Golden Plover
+ usual sp
BS