A cloudy morning with reasonable visibility but hazy distant viewing on a cold S>3 at 3 degrees.
A new month but nothing new at Fly Flatts bird-wise with a very quiet morning. Just 2 Canadas and 2 Greylag on the water along with 34 Mallard that came up from upper Dean Head.
A few Meadow Pipits are arriving back with 6 present whilst 2 Raven and 5 Crows were overhead. Otherwise the sky was empty with not a single gull recorded although an open landfill site at the rear of the re-cycling centre at Balkram Edge is attracting good numbers of gulls though poor viewing of the area.
As I was leaving Fly Flatts at 1000 hrs a call came through from my personal Pinkie watch at Shelf Moor with PT reporting a skein of Pinks heading my way. Scanning from the top gate I picked up the skein very distant to my East, beyond Soil Hill heading >WNW, but soon disappeared into the haze, not to be seen again. I guessed at 100 + but later saw that DB had clocked them with a count of c150 from Soil Hill so I take it that this will be the same skein. Thanks yet again Peter.
Still waiting for Curlew and Oystercatcher, plus Ringed Plover arrived at Fly Flatts last year on the
7th Feb but this was about 2 weeks earlier than normal.
A similar forecast for morning with cloudy sunshine on a light SSW at 3 degrees.
BS