Oxenhope... a terrible day! 13-09-2009

Pre Sunrise today... looking east.... open sky overhead but deep stratus advancing from the north east(c) 2009

Pre Sunrise today... looking NE

Cloud - Clear interface overhead... looking north (c)

The North Sea from the watchpoint today!!! (c) 2009


Gritstone Country! Cookrise Crag Top, Rylstone (c) 2009

Limestone Country... "Above the Cove" Malham (c) 2009

0615 - 1100hr Dave Barker, Keith Hillery

ENE F1 becoming N F3, 8degC, 45 becoming 120+km, 2/8 becoming 8/8 from NE, QNH 1031 steady.

A terrible morning for the birds up here with hardly any moving life in the sky at all! Just an immediate post sunrise rush of a few mipits south and then that was it! Noteable today that all the gulls were going north with none on the south track at all. Two flocks of Chaffinch went south and a six and a two of Snipe went west. Perhaps the most interesting bird today was a Collared Dove calling from the wood.... quite unusual here! However selected horizons and views were quite outstanding after the sky had totally overdrawn... with the unmistakeable golden glint of the sun on the North Sea, at / beyond the mouth of the Humber clearly visible through the murk just over the furthest land horizon just south of east. The brilliant strip vanished just as quickly as it appeared and the photograph was taken when the phenomena was almost faded... but I will certainly watch for this again in similar conditions with the sun low in the east!! Both limestone and gritstone country in the Dales were at times vividy illuminated by shafts of intermittent sun... but still no birds came over on the move despite the lengthy stay!

Moving birds in order of appearance:

Meadow Pipit 89 > S

Swallow 3 > S

alba wagtail 6 > S and W

LBB Gull 56 > N

BH Gull 82 > N

Chaffinch 18 > S

Snipe 8 > W

Skylark 1 > W

Linnet 1 > S

House Martin 1 > S

Other:

Collared Dove 1

Dave