Another morning of thick fog on the tops so across to Leeshaw which was below the cloud base and breaking into sunshine and patches of blue sky. A light E>1 and a temperature of 15 degrees.
An ultra hectic morning reminding me once again that one man vis mig counting and birding don,t mix when a busy morning like this comes along with lots of overhead birds going through uncounted whilst I was scanning the shore for waders and gulls.
After over 30 years vis migging I think its time to stick to my main passion of birding and report vis mig as and when something special goes over or high numbers, just reporting casually. If birding is quiet I can always fall back on vis mig.
A single Dunlin was on the, now well exposed shore, but very distant and in the heat shimmer. A good count of Black Headed gulls were by the reservoir and in the newly muck spreaded goose field which has got to produce a Med gull shortly. Only 3 LBB and 1 Herring but strangely no Common gull.
Mipits, Sand and House Martin, Swallows and Mistle Thrush were moving but the highlight of the morning had to be the most House Martins I have ever seen together with an estimated c200 at the junction of Lee Lane and Moorside Lane with the sky full as well as the telegraph wires, an amazing sight.
Otherwise present were the usual geese, Mallard, Cormorants etc.
Present :-
Canada Goose
Greylag goose
Mallard
Heron
3 Cormorant
c 150 BH gull
1 Herring gull
3 LBB gull
+ usual sp.
Vis Mig :-
1 Dunlin..................blogging
25 Lapwing.............>W
125 Swallow...........>S
14 Sand Martin.......>S
32 House Martin....>S
c 200 House Martin..blogging
37 Mipits...............>S
8 Mistle Thrush.....>W
BS