Luckily, last nights heavy snow turned to rain through the night bringing higher temperatures today and a heavy thaw which is causing quite a bit of flooding around the area but may bring some gulls to the fields.
Reasonable conditions this morning with some sun on a light W>4 at 5 degrees increasing to 9 degrees late morning.
A test run to Mixenden and Ogden this morning to check the roads finding Ogden accessible with caution and the car park very sloppy and slippy. Walking across the promenade was treacherous and the west bank was under water.
Nothing at Mixenden other than 5 Canadas and 6 Mallard plus the usual small gulls whilst Ogden had also a poor count of 6 Common and 12 Black Headed gull. Just 2 Canadas on the water plus the usual Mallards with all activity centred around the feeding area. A Song Thrush was high up in a tree top whilst the usual species were around the feeders, the highlight being at least 8 Robins all looking like continentals with a light pale orange breast as opposed to the red/orange breast of our resident Robins.
They lacked the darker brown, rufous backs and showed a brighter white belly with more blue shading around the neck. The jizz was also very different to our tame residents by flying around showing a wilder and very timid behaviour .
Mid afternoon and shopping done and shelves restocked I thought I,d check out the access to Fly Flatts. Cold Edge Road had some very large drifts but only blocking part of the road whilst the track down to the reservoir was passable with tongue in cheek driving with one wheel on the track and the other in a drift . Very quiet down by the water with just Lapwings and a Kestrel but at least I know I have access there now.
The Nolstar fields provided 8 Golden Plover whilst the first batch of Skylark had returned to their usual nearby field where they congregate each year before dispersing.
Good to get back to normal today.
BS