to see owt.
Oxenhope 1330 - 1445 hrs Atrocious conditions with a howling W>6 - 7. Heavy horizontal rain and drizzle drying up slightly end of watch but then low cloud fell. Visibility Thornton.
A free afternoon and up to Oxenhope in appalling conditions but the birds did,nt seem to mind it so why should I, besides, its just the sort of conditions for a Tern or Skua type heading through.
It was conditions such as these on 23/07/2000 when 62 Common Scoters dropped out of the sky onto the reservoir much to the surprise of MD, BV and myself.
Very hard scoping through the gulls even in the hide with the wind and rain blasting straight at the windows and the gulls were stood head to wind at one point so you could not see their heads.
I was satisfied by the end of the watch that there was no Med gull but as I was coming away BH gulls were piling into the reservoir from the fields.
It was stopping to watch these that got me an adult Yellow Legged Herring gull, a different bird from my Leeshaw sighting. Also a single little Ringed Plover was still present.
The above pictured LBB stood out with the strange wing pattern which did,nt look to be anything to do with the moult ?
Oxenhope
c 400 LBB
c250 BHG and increasing
9 Herring
1 Common
78 Lapwing
1f Goosander
1 Little Ringed Plover
Several Swallows and Swifts
+ usual Canadas, Greylags and Mallards
Mixenden reservoir early evening
Calmer conditions but heavy drizzle throughout
37 BH gulls
11 Common gulls
1m Tufted
6 Mallard
Several Swifts feeding over plantation
Ogden early evening
Drying out slightly and near calm with cloud base just above tree tops.
8 BH gulls
2 LBB gulls
15 Canadas
1 Heron
+ usual sp.
BS