Oxenhope... eye watering wind! 06-09-2010

Pied Wagtail at the foam!.... (c) Howard Creber 2010

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Monday 6 September 2010
Counting period: 7:00-10:00
Weather: ESE F5/6 gusting more, 15degC, Clear, 4/8 thin high cloud, QNH 1013 falling
Observers: Howard Creber


Moving birds:
Lapwing 4 -
Meadow Pipit 59 -
Black-headed Gull 12 -
alba wagtail sp. 2 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 92 -
Chaffinch 3 -
Swallow 16 -

Totals: 188 individuals, 7 species, 3:00 hours

Comments: Mouth watering expectations dashed by eye watering wind. A strong ESE F5/6 wind with buffeting gusts spoiled the morning. What bird activity there was only occurred between 07.00 - 08.00 hrs. After that, basically nothing! The water was very choppy - a surf board would not have gone amiss. Mipits were all going south with the largest party a good 27! The lapwings went SE (from way out NW and low over water SE). Interestingly as we suspected over the weekend, Chaffinch are starting to move with 3 SE (from high over Worth Valley & onward high south east).

1015 -1140hr Brian Vickers
Lapwing 18
Curlew 1
Herring Gull 1
BH Gull 12
LBB Gull 85

1415 -1510hr Brian Vickers
Curlew 2
Common Gull 1
Herring Gull 2
LBB Gull 115
BH Gull 68

Counting period: 18:40-20:00
Weather: ESE F6, 15degC, 20km haze, 8/8 heavy rain just starting, QNH 1004 falling
Observers: Dave Barker

Totals: 0 individuals, 0 species, 1:20 hours

Present: Mallard 36, Goosander 55, Knot 1, Curlew 10, Common Gull 3, Lesser Black-backed Gull 159, Herring Gull 1

Comments: Open sky all night but in tandem with falling QNH and increasing wind from an easterly quarter throughout. Essentially a dry day up here but very windy with a mass of exceptionally heavy rain which had been working up country all day just reaching us in concurrence with my arrival.....!! thus no count of sky birds tonight... just those on the shore which had been constantly changing / passing through all day. The most salient things were that the Goosander roost had dramatically increased to 55, so there must have been some movement here and the bird of the day, a Red Knot actually very grey! was looking quite dejected in the rain on the sandy shore.... This had arrived since mid afternoon.

Dave, Brian and Howard