A bright sunny morning with 30% cloud on a SW>3 at 12 degrees. Luckily the wind kept the temperature down.
Cormorants on the move were the main feature with 9 heading high and >W whilst 24 LBB gulls were heading in the same direction, some dropping onto the water briefly. A single female Goosander was also on the water before heading off for TMR.
A Dipper down in the beck was carrying food to its young whilst I managed another very brief and distant view of the calling Cuckoo, managing a record shot, thanks to the killer fast auto focus of the Canon 7d Mk 2.
Several Swallows, Swifts and House Martins were in the air along with 2 Kestrel and the usual species.
After an afternoon visit to Denholme garden centre we were driving back up the hill from the Keelham traffic lights when I made a sudden stop, making Lynda think we had broken down. The reason being, a large raptor caught my eye at the bottom of the north slope, Soil Hill. A beautiful Red Kite quartered the lower field then flew low over the wall towards us being mobbed by a Crow. It flew across the front of the car and over Keelham farm shop east, presumably back towards Harewood.
How frustrating to get such crippling views of a Red Kite when I've no camera with me! Lynda could'nt understand why the Kite allowed the crow to chase it off when it was 3 times bigger than the crow!
A similar weather system for tomorrow with a light WSW but only showing moderate visibility for some reason?
BS