Ad Herring
A real horror of a morning with everything coated in thick ice and sheet black ice on the ground.
A low cloud base brought fog on a very light N>2 which turned E>3 by midday.
Mid afternoon at Mixenden was murky and dark with hanging mist and heavy drizzle throughout. The water was 30% frozen over which was probably the reason the female Goldeneye had moved to Ogden which I was pleased about as there are several tales of divers getting trapped under the ice. One highlighted story is of a pair of Velvet Scoter landing at Ogden
on an almost completely frozen reservoir, 12/2/1956. The male left but the female got trapped under the ice and was later found dead at the waters edge. Ref HSS Vertebrate Fauna of the Halifax Parish.
Around 150 small gulls were present on the water and stood on the ice whilst a single adult LBB and Herring gull were the only big gulls there.
Sounds like its man the snow shovels again tomorrow.
Mixenden
c 75 BH gull
c 75 Common gull
1 ad Herring
1 ad LBB
2f 1m Mallard
+ usual sp.
BS