A bright start at Fly Flatts with a clear blue sky and good visibility. Thirty minutes after arrival the dreaded fog started rolling in over the Nab but keeping overhead leaving visibility over the water until 0930 hrs when it was lights out. Dense fog on a light SE>3 at zero degrees.
As expected, a very quiet session but the aim this morning was to check for Oystercatcher, Curlew and Ringed Plover which, going by previous years, Oystercatcher is due any day now whilst Curlew is due by the end of the week and Ringed Plover due by the 7th Feb.
Crow, Raven, Meadow Pipit, Grouse and Reed Bunting were present whilst just Mallard and a single Canada were on the water.
On the way up there several gulls were on the Crossroads football pitch with Black Headed and Common. The Black Headed, photographed, stood out with a look of Franklins gull with half a dark mask and prominent white crescents around the eye, not that I've every seen a Franklins but had a near miss with M.P.s Thornton bird, some years ago.
On a closer inspection it was sporting a white leg ring, VS20, which is a well known, to me, Black Headed which I have seen every winter since 2012, either at both this site and Ogden. It is always between October and March when it appears after spending the summer, presumably where it was rung in Neumuster, North Germany, then over-wintering here.
Update on Red Necked Grebe.... Still on Lower Laithe today C.W.
When I first recorded it in 2012 it was an adult so the bird must be at least 15 years old.
A deteriorating day tomorrow with early cloud then rain on a moderate SSW wind turning S and increasing throughout the day. Hopefully, with the east wind gone, so too will the fog.
BS