The wind dominated the day increasing as the day went on before dropping by late afternoon.
Early morn and a near gale SW>7 at 33 m.p.h. with light drizzle on full cloud cover at 12 degrees with good visibility. By the afternoon watch the wind was slowly easing at SW>5.
A terribly quiet day with nothing in the sky other than 2 Raven and a few gulls with no sign of movement and another wader less day. Wheatear were the bird of the day with at least 7 juvs and 3 adults showing autumn plumage whilst 23 LBB gulls were on the north shore along with a 3rd summer Yellow Legged Herring gull, michahellis which is becoming a regular species up there as it does every year in July/ August. A walk on the west bank this afternoon in hopes of getting a better image of the Yellow Legged got me a little closer but, even though the wind was so strong that I had to have the tripod near flat, the distortion was still present with the heat from the mud with the temperature up to 19 degrees.
Sounds like we may have 4 days of the dreaded heat to face now so photos could be sparce, hopefully there will be a good wind blowing at Fly Flatts.
I once e mailed Arthur Morris, known as one of the worlds best bird photographers, asking advice on taking photos in heat distortion conditions. His reply was, " If you scan the shore and see heat shimmer put your camera back in the bag and forget it, there is no way round heat distortion unless you are very close as the more distance between you and the bird the more distortion you will create and the more mags your lens is the more you magnify the distortion".
Visible Migration
7 juv, 3 ad Wheatear.............blogging
1 YL Herring gull................blogging
Present
23 LBB gulls
2 Raven
1 Kestrel
+ usual sp.
BS