A bright sunny start to the morning with clear blue skies on a light W>3 at 2 degrees with banks of fog well over to the west.
At last, a chance of Fly Flatts, that was until I arrived to find fly tippers had dumped a wagon load of roofing material blocking the gate. I was going to start moving it until I found that under the wood it was all slates and rubble. A quick call to Ollie at YW who alerted the council but that could be some while?
I was just deciding whether it was worth the risk of leaving the car at the top and walking down when the thick fog banks came rolling in making the decision for me.
Not risking Ogden on a Saturday morning, as it was now 0845 hrs I stopped off at Mixenden reservoir which turned out to be one of my better moves.
The water and banking held around 50 small gulls, 6 Herring and 2 LBBs along with 7 Mallard and a female Goosander, the later possibly being the Ogden bird.
Several gulls overhead along with 2 Raven and a Buzzard, at distance over Slaughter Gap, whilst the long hedge to the north of the water held several Coal, Great and Blue Tits as well as Bullfinch and Blackbirds.
The west bank Alders were alive with a large flock of around 40+ Redpoll along with a few Siskin, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Goldcrests. The Redpolls were unfortunately between me and the sun so badly silhouetted making it impossible to scour through them for Mealys and even harder to get any decent images but good to see them flying over the tree tops when they moved from one tree to another.
A Sparrowhawk spooked them at one point but only made them do a circuit before returning back into the trees and continue feeding.
It was last March since by last birding trip to Mixy though I check for Whoopers from the top road every time I pass on the way to Fly Flatts. It was the end of December 2021 when I got my Redhead Smew there but the site has been poor over the last year for Goosanders and Goldeneye. Probably a site I need to visit more.
Same forecast for tomorrow but plenty early morning fog hanging in the wings.
BS