A near gale force W>6 gusting 7 and heavy horizontal drizzle combined with low cloud at 12 degrees diverted me to Leeshaw this morning which was just below the misty cloud base though visibility across the water was limited at times due to the drizzle.
Very little movement today in the conditions with low counts of gulls and Swallows whilst a Raven headed >N, not a common sight at this location.
One event that livened up the morning was a Sparrowhawk that flew low over the water in pursuit of a small bird which dropped down on the banking amongst stones, while the Sprawk continued on its way. After a bit of scoping I found the bird which was a Common Sandpiper. Hopefully thats the start of some wader movement.
Very little time this afternoon so with just 1 hour to spare , in a moment of madness, I thought I,d check the gulls at Ogden, even though a little voice in my head was saying,
" you can,t be serious". After a struggle to get on Ogden Lane for cars arriving and leaving I saw the gridlock in the car park and smartly turned around and headed out of there with the little voice in my head now laughing saying, " I told you so".
Just time now to check the gull fields at Thornton which were void of birds other than Woodpigs and even the ploughed field at Denholme Gate only had a small number of gulls due to 2 tractors working the land there.
So back home without even getting out of the car.
LEESHAW
18 Lapwing
1 Raven
1 Sparrowhawk
49 BH gull
2 LBB gull
2 Herring gull
10 Common gull
+ usual sp.
VIS MIG
31 Swallow .......>S
1 Common Sandpiper... blogging
BS