Another long trek which finally found me out; I'm getting too old to be this ambitious. Still it will be all over when I give up birding altogether tomorrow.
Soil Hill produced 3 Oystercatcher, Curlew & Lapwing and for some strange reason the Skylarks were in song overdrive. Also a LBBG over plus a few Swallow and a Swift.
Ned Hill had 2 chuntering Whitethroat which were put in the shade by a very interesting episode. A bird was down at the bottom of a trackside bush hidden in the undergrowth calling loudly and incessantly. I recognised this as the begging call of a juvenile LEO so I allowed myself a few minutes to see what transpired. No parent was obvious so I followed my own advice along with that of the various birding bodies and got the hell out. Subsequent checks on XENO-CANTO confirmed the caller identity.
It was boredom enshrined from then on for quite some time until I got within half a mile or so from the Withens. First a Red Grouse started calling in flight followed by a noisy Curlew. The cause of this was a low flying Buzzard which circled a few times before moving on.
Fly Flatts made me regret the effort to go there for a number of reasons. The shoreline where I got last visits Dunlin has gone and I only copped for 2 Common Sandpipers throughout. There were 3 sets of Dog walkers doing the deed, not a single gull and the place was generally a non event. The best bird count has to be about 6 Redshank.
I staggered down to Ogden in a last gasp effort and despite the throng was mollified to a degree by 2 House Martin over the water and 5 big gulls on it. 2 of these were Herring, 2 were adult LBBG and the other a 2CY type I couldn't identify as by now I'd lost all will power.
