A nice bright clear morning at Fly Flatts though icy cold at 1 degree and very frosty. A light NNE>2 with 50% cloud, being bright to the west and low cloud to the east. The overnight fog had cleared by 0600 hrs, just before dawn with some early specs of rain.
Nice to be back to the solitude of Fly Flatts on a pleasant morning to be able to leisurely stroll round without having to be on the alert for uncontrolled dogs running about.
Having said that, I went up there because the conditions were good but went with a very low expectation of any bird life, which was just what I got. After a walk of the south and west bank plus the compound area , along with a lot of sky watching, I came away with 1 Red Grouse, 1 BH gull >NE 1 LBB gull >SW and an over-wintering Meadow Pipit.
The skies looked good for Trans Pennine Pink Footed Geese which will be doing their annual
West to East and visa versa, usually at the beginning of December, but the sky remained empty this morning.
A bright sunny morning forecast for tomorrow though the light east, turning south east, puts early visibility in jeopardy. One thing for sure, I won't be birding Fly Flatts which is looking like a springtime only site going by this years performance providing only a handful of half decent sightings since the end of August, even though there was tons of shore exposed, yet not a wader all autumn.
BS