Yet another foggy start at Fly Flatts leaving poor visibility throughout. As the fog cleared it was bright hazy sunshine turning the sky milky,then very dark clouds rolled in from the west putting everything into silhouette. A light W>2 increased to W>3 mid afternoon and sunshine with temp starting at 11 degrees and getting up to 19 degrees.
Again today all the action was on the deck with scores of grounded Mipits and a good variety of other passerine species. A lower count of movers in flight today with most of my time taken scrolling through the grounded birds which proved worthwhile when I turned up yet another Black Redstart for my area.
I didnt find the Black Redstart until mid morning but when I got home and checked the photos it was actually on one of the first photos I,d taken, to the right of a Reed Bunting, Stonechat and Mipit on a wire fence. What an embarrassing miss.
Just Mipits and Swallows over today along with 2 Herring gull but no time for sky watching with the activity on the ground.
A second visit mid afternoon failed to relocate the Black Red and most of the mornings birds had gone apart from the Wheatears and Stonechats.
Interesting to watch a Wheatear eject a pellet which I thought I would have caught on film but the pellet shot out so quick I missed it.
All the passerines brought out the raptors with Kestrel, Sparrowhawk plus the unwanted guest of a Peregrine on the east bank.
A text from MP at 15.08 hrs reporting the Osprey back at Doe Park and shortly afterwards perched in a tree eating its catch.
Fly Flatts Vis Mig
162 Mipit........................>S
32 Swallow ...................>S
2 Herring gull................>SW
Bloggers :-
1 Black Redstart
19 Reed Bunting
6 Stonechat
7 Wheatear
c 100 Mipits
Present
1 Peregrine
4 Kestrel
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Buzzard
2 Raven
+ usual sp.
BS