A very wet morning at Leeshaw with some very heavy showers and sunshine in between on a light WSW>3 at 9 degrees.
With Fly Flatts lying stagnant over he last few visits I headed for Leeshaw Reservoir which paid dividends. A good search through around 200 Greylags and Canadas in the goose field came up trumps with 2 Barnacle geese mixed in with them. My last record of Barnacle at this site was 44 geese, 5/1/2013 originally found by B.O.G. Nigel Priestley causing quite a stir with local birders. They stayed a couple of days along with 7 Pink Footed and the usual Canadas and Greylags.
Next good bird was a distant Cuckoo in trees across on the moor and calling throughout the watch which made up for none at Fly Flatts this year as yet.
The area was alive with Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins all skimming over the new muck spread fields whilst lots of Lapwings were in the same fields, the majority being newly fledged birds
Around 8 pair of Curlew were very vocal and obviously protecting chicks. Also a good breeding record for Oystercatcher with 2 newly fledged young. Only other waders were 2 Redshank and no sign of the annual Little Ringed Plovers, although exposed shore is very limited.
Just 11 LBB gulls on the water but a hotspot here for Yellow Legged Herring gull come July. Otherwise Cormorant, Heron, female Goosander, Stock Doves and Linnets, plus the usual species.
On the way home I caught sight of a white bird hovering over a field, Barn Owl. An emergency stop and threw myself out of the car just in time to get a couple of half decent shots before it drifted away, a good end to a good mornings birding.
Not a bad looking forecast for morning with a SSW>3 at 8 degrees and good visibility before chance of rain late morning.
BS