Watchpoint 01-03-2006

Members only watchpoint 01-03-2006
Wednesday 1st March 2006
0845 - 1100hr
Weather and Sky:
A bitter cold but brilliantly sunny clear morning with open skies and deep frost. Hard ice on puddles throughout. Snow on South Dales Hills as previous. Wind: WNW F3. Temperature: -5degC min overnight, still –3.3degC air temp in shade at watchpoint by 1100hrs. Visibility: 100km max (E) Humber Bridge, 60km+ NNW Leck Fell. Precipitation: none. Cloud: essentially 0ok, but wall of deep cloud visible over the North Sea and advancing from far to the ENE. Pressure: 1003hpa and still falling slowly.

A wonderful morning to be out but bitter cold with very searching wind, from an unforgiving upblowing direction. A hot waterbottle kept the camera going!! But flask cup froze up on the wall!!! Except for overflying Carrion Crows, very little bird movement at and above the watchpoint altitude here, but Lesser Black Backed Gulls noted to be moving NNW over the lower grounds and the first return Redshank of the year heard calling from the shore across the water and from into the sun. All of the Lesser BBG’s were noted in the final half hour of the watch. Singing Skylarks were over several of the adjacent in-bye fields but unsurprisingly no other moorland passerines noted. When home and thawed out, a look at the sky out of the kitchen window found several Common and BH Gulls going high ENE.

Moving Birds:
Lesser Black Backed Gull 35 > NNW
No small gulls seen.
Carrion Crow several > W
Lapwing 13 > SSE very high
Redshank – first return

For todays skyscapes and landscapes see:
http://skyscapeyorks.blogspot.com/

Dave.