A lower count of small gulls today with just 1 ad Herring present but managed to re locate the Common gull with the white leg ring, one to look up now that I have got the number. Six Canadas were also on the water this morning.
A circular walk of the water found a good flock of Long Tailed Tits on the west bank but still no Siskin or Redpoll which seems a bit strange. A Grey Wagtail was down by the waters edge whilst a Kingfisher flew over the water looking for an unfrozen bit.
An experimental run to Fly Flatts to check the situation of the access track was a real downer.
The first obstacle I came across was some lowlife scumbag had dumped a truck load of rubbish right in the middle of Cold Edge Rd by the Withins with just room to get past going off the edge of the road.
After that snow drifts were well over the wall tops with the road just passable until I got to Slade where it was blocked solid with deep snow. Looking on towards Fly Flatts 2 cars had left the road and were down in the field and a van was abandoned in the middle of the road. Looking at that I,ll be lucky to get to Fly Flatts before the month end unless next weeks warm up and rain move it quick.
With nowhere to turn around I had to reverse back 1/4 of a mile to the Windfarm station where I could turn round and head back to Mixenden reservoir.
Just to add to the downer Mixenden was poor with less than 100 small gulls and 5 Canada geese
with no Goldeneye even though the ice is gone from the water. The highlight was 2 Barn Owl a good distance away sat out enjoying the sun.
Looks like I,m back to Ogden again in the morning but its good walking with the dogs whilst its all frozen over without being ankle deep in mud.
BS