Ogden in the rain.

                                          Shoreline getting busy

                                       Mainly Black Headed

                                   Young BHG 1st summer, left

                                         Cormorants building up, 5 present

                                         LBB gulls of all ages.

                           All pics at 300 mm due to heavy rain
                            Big Bertha does,nt like getting wet.

    Double take, LBB over Cormorant.

                                 1st summer Black Headed

      Adult BHG,  1st summer LBB,  1st summer BHG,

Rain is not a problem, wind is workable but fog is impossible.
Thick fog daylong up here in the Gods so it was down to Ogden late p.m. which was just below the cloud base but very dark and very wet with a mix of heavy rain and drizzle.
                                                  The move of Cormorants I experienced over the weekend has left 5 at Ogden which usually builds up to double figures by late August. Around 70 gulls were on the east banking, 75 % being Black Headed with the rest Lesser Black Backed and still no Commons returned.
Mallard numbers are low at present with most of them well into moult and non flyers whilst the usual 25 Mixenden Canadas were on the south cobbles.
Good to see the Kingfisher returned, post breeding, when it flashed downstream out of the sluice gate area.
Hopefully the North Easterlies forecast for tomorrow will shift the fog and bring in the goods.
BS

Another crack at Leeshaw

                                    Lapwings congregate on the shoreline

                     The area buzzing with Oystercatchers.

Leeshaw 1500 hrs - 1615 hrs. Cloudy with a W>4 and good visibility
                                                            Black Headed gulls were the birds of the day with around 150 heading through >W with some staying on the shoreline whilst LBB numbers were down with around 40 birds settling at the west end of the water. The area is alive with Oystercatchers with a rough count of 30 plus and at least 1 small chick.
                                                        The far N shore held a pair of Lapwing protecting 4 small chicks whilst a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Dunlin were present.
Just 2 Cormorant on the water and the usual Greylags and Canadas, most of the Greylags being non flyers at the moment during moult.
                                                       Good to bump into Brian Vickers and Rod Proctor up there giving it a coat of looking at but nothing sighted to get our taste buds going.
Yesterdays Sand Martins had moved through but several House Martins and swallows present but no Swifts although Swifts were present over Queensbury last night along with several Pipistrelle bats.
BS

Time and bad weather conditions stops play.

A combination of a late finish of family stuff  in the afternoon and the dreaded blue sky and blazing sun syndrome forced me to abandon the tea time birding session and catch up to some gardening, the front garden in the shade that is.
                                                   Being a dedicated upland birder and gaining no pleasure from scouring through walls of leaves looking for woodland birds I,ve been concentrating most of my efforts on my 2 favourite local reservoirs, Fly Flatts and Leeshaw, both only 15 minutes from home .
I,ve always watched these sites but now working part time its allowed me to intensify my watch on them which has proved a real bonus with the birds they,ve turned up recently.
                                                 Ogden, Mixenden and Cold Edge dams are used as a fall back but tend to not get the volume of birds through although Mixenden has thrown up some real beauties in the past but recently badly disturbed with so called fishermen, not the genuine anglers which present no real problem. Ogden is now a crowd puller and unusable at weekends and school holidays, especially in good weather. I use this site in bad conditions when the higher reservoirs are fog bound. Ogden can shine in autumn and winter when wildfowl are on the move.

Over the years Fly Flatts has provided me with 112 species including
18 Wader species
17 Wildfowl species
10 Raptor Species
6 Gull species

Closely followed by Leeshaw with a species list of  92 including
14 Wader species
16 Wildfowl species
7 Raptor species
7 Gull species.

Not to be knocked, Ogden has provided me with 120 species but this higher species count includes woodland species also.

Stick at your local area and even though the rewards can be slow coming the pleasure is much greater when they arrive.
BS

Just to show its not just me.

An excerpt from famous American Canon photographers blog, Arthur Morris, ( linked on right,) who at present is doing a photography class around Northumberland photographing Gannets, Puffins etc. He doesnt like the sun and blue skies either.

After three perfect photography days my weather karma got too good. We were somewhat cursed with clear blue skies and uncooperative wind directions, but the day was saved when I arranged for a late stay on Farnes with one of the captains. We wound up enjoying an extra 90 minutes of puffins and Razorbills in sweet light. It is early on Sunday morning, July 10 and — despite the partly sunny conditions at 6:00am, it is looking as if we will once again enjoy completely cloudy bright skies. Today is our last full day boat trip.

BS

Sunday Morn at Leeshaw.

           Distant out of range Little Ringed Plover

                           Same shoreline, Oystercatchers and young

                                    Still at least 1 Curlew present

                                      Several young Sand Martins present

                                 Lapwing numbers building.

0800 hrs and back to Leeshaw to see if the Common Scoter had returned which it had,nt.
A black cloudy start clearing by 0900 hrs to leave blue skies and sunshine.
                                                               Good to meet BV up there who had just picked out a Dunlin on the distant shoreline but way out of camera range whilst across the water but still on the edge of range were a pair of Oystercatchers with 1 juv, a single Little Ringed Plover and a Lapwing with a very late brood of 4 tiny chicks.
Very few gulls present with around 10 LBBs and 4 BHGs and once again no sign of the Yellow Legged.  House and Sand Martins were over the water with plenty juvs of the latter but Swifts seem to be winding down now.
                                    A Curlew in a distant field gave me hopes of Whimbrel but after a few zoomed in shots it was not to be. Lapwings have now got up to a count of around 150 spread between the shoreline and fields whilst 1 Snipe did a quick fly round.
No moving Cormorants today but 3 new overnight birds had dropped in .
BS

Leeshaw, Cormorants and Scoter.

  This Lapwing chick I,ve been watching from hatching
   has almost reached adulthood despite all the hurdles
                           on the way.

 A difficult snap with the Little Owl in the dark
                     shade of the wall.

                                           Lbb gulls drifting in

                            Cormorants on the move

                                            Several in the moult

                           9 in total, >SW + 2 by the water

                                  Still 20 + Oystercatchers present

                                              Several Black Headed gulls

1530 hrs at Leeshaw just in time for the kick off  when gulls start arriving at 1600 hrs onwards.
                                                              Not my kind of weather with clear blue skies and sunshine but the W>4 kept the temperature from soaring.
No retake of yesterdays Yellow Legged Herring gull when I was prepared to get some better photos with gulls much quieter today as around 40 LBBs and 20 BHGs arrived but no Herrings.
                                                          Two Cormorants were by the water with an obvious move >SW of  9 separate birds >SW, some of these very high and most in some stage of moult.
Still a count of over 20 Oystercatchers and around 50 Lapwings along the shore along with some late young Lapwing chicks.
                                      At 1630 hrs the whole shebang lifted up for some unseen reason filling the sky with Lapwings, gulls and Oystercatchers and whilst scanning through the gulls a Common Scoter flew through the bins seeing it just in time before it skimmed over the dam wall and headed towards TMR. It must have been on the water at the western end and out of site the whole time that I was there.
BS

Fog at Fly Flatts, Yellow Legged at Leeshaw.

                                   Yellow Legged Herring Gull, Leeshaw

         Not the best photos at the distance

                       Pose for the camera

1500 - 1530 hrs at Fly Flatts just gave me time to check the water and the shoreline before the drizzly scud clouds came across the moor cutting visibility considerably . Just the usual suspects showing plus a Curlew sighting off Cold Edge Road proving they have,nt all left the area as yet.
                                                         I was going to ride it out and see if the weather front passed but rather than waste any time I moved on to Leeshaw reservoir arriving at 1600 hrs to the waving arms of Keith Moir shouting ," Its on the tower " ,  the Yellow Legged Herring gull that is.
The bird was squat down on the top of the water tower which is quite a distance so the pics were,nt what I had hoped for but I,m sure I,ll get another chance before the end of moult.
                                                                As Keith was going and I was in the middle of a lens change the gull suddenly flew, circling round before disappearing to its favourite spot at the NW corner so a few half cocked flight shots was managed before it went.
BS

Tropical Fly Flatts

         Juv Wheatear wondering where all its mates are.

                                    1 of 12 Common Sandpipers

                       Juv Grey Wagtail bred near the feeding station.

 This juv Common Sandpiper can actually fly now

                      Closely watched by Mum.

1515 hrs on a far too hot afternoon though luckily there was a W > 4 coming across the moor cooling things down slightly. Horizontal vision was down to about 10 miles due to heat haze and very little cloud cover.
                   Black Headed gulls were piling over >SW down the Calder Valley but ridiculously high and barely visible to the naked eye whilst a few LBB gulls came over >N on a lower plane, some skimming the water to drink.
                                               Nothing untoward on the water other than the usual Canadas and the 2 Barnacles whilst wader wise a scope from the west bank produced a minimum of 12 adult Common Sandpipers and 3 juvs along with 4 Dunlin and 2 Oystercatchers. The Curlews have now gone as far as I can tell whilst Lapwings are beginning to group.
                                              The lonely juv Wheatear is still present but should be joined by others shortly, HC clocked one at Leeshaw the other day. Meadow Pipits are still busy feeding young and will be for a while yet but sadly not a single Skylark in this area this season. Looks like Soil Hill and Old Guy Rd are the only strongholds left in the area  for this species.
BS