Intermittent fog. Fly Flatts.

 

                                    1 of 5 Stonechat through the fog.

                                Mega distant Barn Owl.

                                    Mist rolling in.

A morning of intermittent thick fog banks rolling through from the west with clear, but wet and windy patches in between. A moderate SW>4 with heavy drizzle showers at 10 degrees.

            I actually had a few short periods where I could actually see the sky this morning which made birding strange as I,m not used to looking up at Fly Flatts. Luckily it did,nt last long and I was soon back to a low cloud base then dense fog as I left.

      An amazingly quiet morning with no sign of migrants other than at least 5 Stonechat alongside the entrance track as I left, in thick fog.

    Just 3 LBB gull >NE whilst a Peregrine skimmed the heather as it crossed the moor, plus a Kestrel in the air. 

The highlight, to save the morning, was a Barn Owl quartering the area but a great distance away and just on the limit of the 960 mm lens.

BS

Here,s a short article that I came across in the archives of my blog giving an idea of how good Soil Hill used to be in its hey day. The article was written by Andy Cockroft when the summit of Soil Hill was void of any vegetation, covered in rubble with several scrapes which attracted several waders and regular winter visits from Shore Lark, Snow Bunting, Lapland Bunting and Twite.

My best wader finds up there were Purple Sandpiper and Dotterel.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

A Soil Hill story

An horrendous day up here on the tops with a severe gale WNW >9 gusting 10 bringing showers of horizontal rain turning to snow after dark when the wind dropped leaving a light frozen coating on the cars and pavements.

 

With the sighting of Lapland Bunting on Ringby Top the other day,DJS, it reminded me of the Shore Lark found up there a few years ago and the amazing sighting we had of 3 Shore Lark and 2 Snow Buntings which gave excellent views on Soil Hill for a few days back in Nov 2004.

Here is a report from Andy Cockroft I dug out from his first visit to the hill.

 

                                          Andy wrote :-       The phone was buzzing in my pocket but I was unable to read it as it was my Grandmas 90th birthday speech. When I got to read it , it said, 3 Shore Lark , Soil Hill

10/11/2004.  Where the hell is Soil Hill I thought !!!!!! Early next morning I pulled up at the place I was told to go to where it was thick fog, not just thick but dense with visibility down to 3 or 4 feet.

I had no idea where to go or even where I was, ( now I know that this is not uncommon on the hill).

                                                            As I stumbled around the wire and rubbish I certainly cursed the place a few times. Eventually I reached the top and thought I,ve no chance of seeing anything in this, but then out of the gloom 3 birds flew past me which could have been Skylarks but sometimes you just know when they are something different. I searched for another hour then gave it up.

                                                                    A couple of hours later I returned and the fog had gone so I set off again knowing that they were there somewhere and after literally bumping into one of the Cunningham brothers we were soon rewarded with the 3 Shore Larks giving good views and also Snow Bunting and Jack Snipe.

Since that first date I have been many times to the hill and have been rewarded several times with, Black Redstart, Dotterel , Purple Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Buzzard to name a few.

Soil Hill is one of the best places to see Snow Bunting in winter and usually picks up the first Wheatear in spring and is well worth a look at any time of year , especially in the autumn for vis mig.

Andy C.

A nice report there Andy giving a good feel to the place.

BS

Posted by Brian Sumner .