A lively Fly Flatts

                                    1 of 2 Wheatear
 

                                    Skein of 75 Pinkies >E

                                    Disappearing into the mist.

                                    Pied Wagtail

                                    Features of Greenland Wheatear

                                    1 of 6 Stonechat.

A clear sky to start with but deteriorating as the morning went on with low cloud and mist coming over from the west on a moderate WSW>5 gusting 6 at 10 degrees, with light drizzle showers.

    Another of those brisk, damp reservoir friendly mornings with quite a bit of activity going on both in the sky and on the deck though the gull roost has now gone with their northern shore under water and only a small amount of exposed shore in the SE corner.

    A skein of 75 Pink Footed geese went overhead, very high and >E whilst several Mipits, gulls and Reed Buntings headed >SW.

   A single Tufted was on the water along with 7 Canada geese and 2 Greylags. At least 6 Stonechat were present along with 2 Pied Wagtails with a distant Buzzard, Raven and Kestrel in the air.

A near miss for Fly Flatts this morning with 11 Whooper Swan on nearby Ogden Reservoir reported by 

MM via DJS. None present on Cold Edge Dams or Mixenden as I drove past.

    A bright morning of sunshine and some cloud on a light westerly at 10 degrees.

BS

     

The wildfowl move continues, Leeshaw Reservoir.

 

                                    Whooper Swan leaving as I arrived.

                                    1 of 2 Wigeon

                                    1 of 12 Teal

                                    Wigeon with Mallards

                                    Wigeon and Teal

                                        Plenty gulls present

                                        Herring gull

                                        Teal

Ideal reservoir watching conditions at Leeshaw  with fog on the tops but Leeshaw below the low cloud base with full cloud cover and scud clouds piling through bringing very heavy drizzle showers on a moderate to strong WSW> 4 gusting 6 at 10 degrees.

       With the conditions being what the upland reservoir birds seem to like, though not very nice to be out in, things were extremely lively with a large count of gulls, in the fields, on the water, and moving through >W continuously throughout the watch.

   Yesterdays Teal are up to 12 and now 2 Wigeon, all feeding around the shoreline, whilst a single Whooper Swan was just leaving the water as I arrived, making me dive out of the car, camera in hand.

     An unusual species at this site was 9 Linnet landing briefly on a distant wall before heading off >SW whilst 2 Heron headed >E. An excellent mornings watch but hard work trying to sift through all the passing gulls looking for something special, plus hopes of a Tern species, though its getting too late in the season now so probably going to have a Tern-less year.

    Similar conditions for morning with cloud and sunshine on a moderate WSW and chance of light rain showers, just the right tackle for my job.

BS

A breezy Leeshaw Reservoir

 

                                    10 Teal present

                                    Cormorants on the move

                                    Wigeon with Teal

                                            Wigeon, distant shore

                                    Teal

                                    Wigeon

                                    Gulls on the NW shore.

Heavy drizzle early doors at Leeshaw reservoir but soon clearing to leave clear blue skies and sunshine on a blustery WNW>5 gusting near gale 7 at a cool 8 degrees.

    Wildfowl on the move at last with 10 Teal over on the far shore as well as a single Wigeon and 12 Mallard whilst the distant NW shore held around 100 LBB, 200 Black Headed, 12 Common and 6 Herring gull but still expectantly awaiting Med and Great Black Backed gull.

    Two groups of Cormorants were interesting heading >W, with a total of 15, but continued on at height over the water. Otherwise, a few Meadow Pipits >SW plus all the usual species.

   A cloudy morning tomorrow with a moderate WSW wind at 10 degrees so slightly less windy than today.

BS

Not a day for birding.

 With a strong wind and terrential rain showers it was match abandoned with too windy for Fly Flatts and Ogden not a safe place to be under the trees, so I settled for a few very wet and windy dog walks over Foxhill and took advantage of the bad weather by getting both dogs bathed and groomed, so that's a big job done for another 6 weeks.

     Foxhill park held 10 Common gull, all stomping for worms and enjoying the softened ground, along with several Woodpigeons and the usual 4 Crows. The adult Crows bred 2 young this year which are still present, one having a pure white belly and the other having brilliant white wing bars.

   Its a good job wader season is over with the amount of rain today, which will have now covered most of the shore at Fly Flatts. A big influx of Yellow Browed Warblers in the country now, up north, so one to look out for at Ogden. The last sighting there being 29th-30th Sept 2012 whilst Dan Branch located one on Soil Hill 29th Sept 2024.

      Talking of Soil Hill, the summit is back to clear rubble and pools as it was many years ago when Snow Bunting was a common winter species up there. The late, great Halifax birder Gordon Denison had a feeding station up there which regularly attracted winter Twite, Shore Lark, Lapland Bunting and Snow Bunting. Gordon was an amazingly dedicated birder whom I spent many happy hours with at Fly Flatts where his feeding station on the west bank also attracted the same as Soil Hill.

                                              Gordon with another of his enthusiastic projects.

     Tomorrow could go either way with a strong WNW bringing sunshine and showers at 9 degrees.

BS

      

Fly Flatts

 

                                    Raven passing the top mast

                                1 of 4 Stonechat

                                    LBB gulls >SE

A half decent morning weather wise with full dark cloud cover but good visibility despite several large scud clouds moving over low, just below the turbine tops. A light SW>3-4 at 10 degrees.

     A much quieter morning  with most of yesterdays small passerines gone leaving 4 Stonechat, 2 Reed Bunting and around 30 Meadow Pipits.

   A group of 71 LBB gulls were on the water along with 5 Canadas and a single Greylag whilst  a good number of LBB gulls were passing, heading >SE.

   Otherwise, just 2 Kestrel and a single Raven in the air. A disappointing morning for this time of year.

Tomorrow is looking like a write off with strong to gale force westerlies gusting up to storm force with some rain.

BS