Fly Flatts a.m.

                Curlew getting established in the fields now

Another bright sunny morning at Fly Flatts with good visibility above and mist in the valleys on a SW>4.
           A good start with 3 Teal flushed from the SW corner which flew to the NE area not to be relocated. The area was alive with birds and calls but all nothing special with over 200 Canadas now along with 2 Greylags, 1 Oystercatcher, 8 Mallard and 15 Lapwing.
                                                Empty skies other than 9 Herring gull >SW and 15 flighty Golden Plover over the Flat moor. No sign of Mipits or Skylarks this morning.
BS

A taste of things to come in March

After a good mornings birding this morning and the weather non birding friendly this afternoon plus the amount of public out to enjoy the sunshine I aborted this afternoons watch and caught up to some serious gardening and car valetting, that was after the usual shopping expedition of course.
                                                                 With 4 days left of February I,ve put together a few birds that I,ve had locally in March from previous years, just something for you to look out for.

         Osprey 25/3  Fly Flatts

 Dunlin in winter plumage 4/3  Mixenden

                                     Yes, that is snow in March

     Sandwich Tern 30/3  Fly Flatts

  244 Whoopers 22/3  Mixenden

 Imagine my face when I peered over the banking and saw this lot

                                 Crossbills  11/3  Ogden

 Waxwings  17/3  Foxhill, Queensbury

   Gadwall,  8/3  Mixenden

     Ring Necked Parakeet   31/3  Bradshaw

  2 Kittiwakes  22/3   23/3  Fly Flatts.   1 found dead below the west bank
  and 1 flyover >NE.   The photo is the Shibden Park Kittiwake late Feb.
BS

Sunday morn at a hazy Fly Flatts

  Oystercatcher taken a liking to the jetty

                                   At least 5 Curlew back now

                                       A second Oyk

                A Meadow Pipit back at last

           Skulking in the single tree.

Early doors at Fly Flatts found it just above the mist but with the sun trying to get through it made visibility very haze but blue skies overhead with a E>4 strong breeze blowing.
                                                     First birds as I got out of the car were a Snipe flushed from the reeds at the side of me, 2 Curlew overhead and an Oystercatcher on the floating jetty, and that was before I,d even chance to get geared up.
                                                    Very noisy up there this morning with upland sounds of Canada geese, Oystercatcher and Curlew leading us into thinking spring is here even though weve a way to go yet before we,re out of the woods.
Apart from the usual species a second Oystercatcher flew over with at least 5 very vocal Curlew present whilst 2 BH gulls were on the water.
A Reed Bunting showed briefly and the first Meadow Pipit back was found in the single tree.
BS
                                                               

Fly Flatts p.m.

A poor watch this afternoon compared to this morning with the wind back in the SW and blowing a moderate SW>5 at 22 mph with poor visibility to the misty west.
                                                                      Canada geese were very vocal out of the water along the east bank due to a wind surfer braving the cold water whilst a lower number of Lapwings were present with a count of around 100. Nothing on the seed today but around 8 Skylark present now between Nolstar and Fly Flatts which is a big improvement on last year .
                                                                      A small flock of 5 Golden Plover were mobile over the Flat moor but no sign of the 5 Stonechat from this morning,  A single Curlew called from the wind turbine area but strangely no returning Meadow Pipits as yet and none have over wintered there.
Hopefully tomorrows easterlies will turn something up.
BS

Back to sunny Fly Flatts. a.m.

              A good start to the morning with 3 Heron >E

                                       A cronking Raven

   Rare bird for Fly Flatts, Rook >SW

                   Escorted out of the area with 2 Crows.

                                       Over 100 Canadas now

                                        Mallards pairing up.

                                        Still 5 Stonechat present

A bright sunny morning at 10 degrees on a light S >4 with mist in the valleys.
                                                     First birds over were 3 Heron very high and >E, obvious moving birds and a rare species for Fly Flatts. Another rare species for this area was a Rook over >SW being escorted across the moor with the 2 resident Crows which returned as it disappeared over Dean Head.
                                                      A Raven passed overhead flushing 18 Lapwing from the east bank whilst Canada geese are showing a count of over 100 now with several scattered around the fields and moor.
The 5 Stonechat are still present down the track and a Curlew showed briefly by the wind turbines.
                                                    On the way back 3 Skylark were around the Slade area and a 4th up singing making it look like it could be going to be a better year for them this time.
BS

Shirt Sleeves at Fly Flatts.

                                               More Stonechat arrive

A late afternoon visit to Fly Flatts found a light SE>3 blowing with 20 % cloud cover and 14 degrees
in the sunshine feeling like mid summer, real shirt sleeve material though not very good for the birds which were lounging about reluctant to move.
                                                               Around the same number of Lapwing as yesterday were present lining the east bank and down by the waters edge now that the peninsular is showing along with a daily increasing number of Canada geese.
                                                          The 3 Stonechats were still present along with a new pair that were moving between the reed bed and the compound fence. Otherwise thing were quiet just like a lazy summers afternoon apart from the usual nuggets that always appear when the sun shines.
BS

Curlews back at last, Fly Flatts,a.m.

                                 Curlews return

                                             Noisy Raven

A bright and sunny morning at Fly Flatts with 50% cloud cover and a SW>3 at 10 degrees.
                                                               A steady morning but enough to keep me occupied until the last 30 minutes when it all kicked off with reports of Pinkies which headed west before they reached me along with 3 Stonechat appearing in the distant, 2 Curlews over, landing near the wind turbines, a distant Buzzard up and 2 Raven heading over Slade. Quite a finale to the watch. 

1 Oystercatcher
2 Raven
1 Buzzard
2 Curlew,........... first back at this location
58 Canadas
24 Lapwing
2 Woodpigeons
3 Stonechat
BS