rather than, first suspected, early bred male juv !
for low light.
A real wet morning with heavy horizontal drizzle and rain showers on a west but quickly turning SW> 4 with dark skies at 14 degrees. Late afternoon was drier with black clouds and occasional drizzle.
Walking on to check the lagoon area first job a low flying bird over the water caught my eye, Merlin, which tried for a Mipit but missed so, luckily, it raised above the skyline so I was able to blast some shots as it went through at about 50 m.p.h and was gone over the Flat Moor in seconds.
The camera was on 2000 exp at 800 iso which,due to the poor light, was a lower speed than needed for the speed of the bird but no time to touch the settings in the time allowed. Thanks to Canons super fast auto focus and shooting at 10 frames per second I managed to rescue some record shots.
The jury is still out on the age of the bird as at first I suspected an early juv going into adult male plumage going by some areas of brown on the mantle but possibly an adult male showing signs of feather wear and partial moult.
A very wet and windy walk to the NE corner along the east bank found the male and juv Ringed Plovers plus a new in Common Sandpiper which is a first one back after they have had a poor breeding season at Fly Flatts this year.
Swallows were moving well this afternoon and Meadow Pipit numbers are increasing.
Looks like another soaking tomorrow with rain forecast throughout the day but if it brings the birds in I won,t be complaining.
Visible Migration
58 Swallows.....................>SE
1 m 1 juv Ringed Plover.....blogging
8 juv Wheatear.................blogging
1 Common Sandpiper......blogging
several Meadow Pipits....blogging
Present
12 LBB gull
1 Herring gull
5 Kestrel up together
+ usual sp.
BS