found by JJL, Bradshaw John.
Heavy overnight snow and bad roads sent me to Ogden early morning which turned out to be a good move. Light snow and heavy drizzle fell throughout on a light W>3 at 3 degrees.
A Song Thrush was singing away near the lodge house whilst a Gt Spotted Woodpecker was drumming in the plantation close by but near impossible to find until eventually I spotted it in time for a couple of shots.
Around 15 Goldcrest were in the spot that DF found a Firecrest back in November 2013 but no such luck today. The usual tit flock was in the same place as usual whilst the water was quiet with a few small gulls along with 1 Herring and 1 Lesser Black Backed.
As expected, the 3 Whoopers had gone but the 20 from yesterday were still on Lower Laithe this morning thanks to a text from Andrew Oakworth.
Heading back across the prom I did my usual scan through the Mallards for anything unusual, I,ve done this religiously ever since CK turned up a pair of Pintail in among them, and amazingly a drake Mandarin was in the middle of them. A very rare waterfowl for this site and none seen since JJLs 2 back in Nov 2016. A grand finale to a pleasings mornings birding.
A bit of a late start to the afternoon session with massive holdups in Halifax with another jumper on North Bridge but got there eventually to find a good depth of snow and the whole area waterlogged with torrents of water pouring off the moors once again lifting the reservoir level and holding the work up once more.
The wind had risen to W>5 and very heavy drizzle throughout the watch but a struggling walk on the east bank cobbles proved worthwhile when the Ringed Plover showed, again in with the Lapwings then feeding on the snowy shore.
I thought this bird would have moved on after last nights heavy snow but its actually sheltering in the reed beds along with the Lapwings where it returned to as I was leaving. There are now 31 Lapwings returned to the east bank breeding area which is already starting to get the gulls interested.
Strange to see Ringed Plover, Curlews and Oystercatchers in the snow.
So 3 days into March and 3 specials with Whooper Swan, Ringed Plover and Mandarin duck.
Ogden
1 Drake Mandarin
1 Herring gull
1 LBB gull
c15 Goldcrest
1 Gt Spotted Wdpeck
1 Song Thrush.
+ usual sp.
Fly Flatts
1 Ringed Plover
2 Curlew
1 Oystercatcher
2 Raven
1 Kestrel
31 Lapwing
16 Canadas
8 Herring gull.
BS