Whiteholme versus Fly Flatts.

With some excellent records recently of waders at Whiteholme reservoir by Pete Smith I looked back through the Calderdale archives to find that Whiteholme, along with Fly Flatts, has been a top scorer for the area over the years. Well done to Pete for finding himself a seldom watched patch and consistently keeping observations there, even though it is a bleak and distant area and Pete travels there by public transport and Shanks's Pony.
I,ve put together a rough comparison of waders seen at the two sites over the years :-

Oystercatcher....................Whiteholme ----- Fly Flatts
Little Ringed Plover.........Whiteholme------ Fly Flatts
Ringed Plover..................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Dotterel............................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Golden Plover..................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Grey Plover....................  Whiteholme------ Fly Flatts
Lapwing...........................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Knot................................ Whiteholme------Fly Flatts
Sanderling.......................Whiteholme------Fly Flatts
Little Stint.......................Whiteholme------Fly Flatts
Bairds Sandpiper.............Whiteholme------------------
Curlew Sandpiper............Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Purple Sandpiper.................               .-------Fly Flatts
Dunlin.............................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Ruff.................................Whiteholme------ Fly Flatts
Jack Snipe......................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Snipe..............................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Black Tailed Godwit......Whiteholme------ Fly Flatts
Bar Tailed Godwit.........Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Whimbrel......................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Curlew..........................Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Spotted Redshank........Whiteholme------- Fly Flatts
Redshank................... .Whiteholme...........Fly Flatts
Greenshank..................Whiteholme...........Fly Flatts
Green Sandpiper...........Whiteholme..........Fly Flatts
Wood Sandpiper...........Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Common Sandpiper.....Whiteholme-------Fly Flatts
Spotted Sandpiper...........................--------------------
Turnstone....................Whiteholme--------Fly Flatts
Wilsons Phalarope.....Whiteholme---------------------
Red Necked Phalarope...Whiteholme-----------------

So all in all pretty even stevens though Fly Flatts is still waiting for a Phalarope and Bairds Sandpiper  whilst Whiteholme needs a Purple Sandpiper.  Spotted Sandpiper is a tall order for both sites, my one and only bird was at EGP back in 1990.
References thanks to... The Birds of Halifax, NC Dawtrey
                                     Vertebrate Fauna of the Halifax Parish, I Morley, Hx Scientific Society.

After one and a half days in fog lock down working from home I finally got back to Fly Flatts today late afternoon to find the weather had gone from one extreme to the other in 20 degrees sunshine on a very light E>3 putting everything to sleep around the shoreline with gulls, geese and the usual waders motionless. It was good to see the 2 Ringed Plover chicks had survived the day of torrential rain and were still dashing around the mud on day 14.

 PS...Comment box has disappeared somewhere between the original blog and the new revised edition and doesnt want to re instate it for some reason.
Update... Reverted back to original blog and that has sorted it for now!!!
BS