Last night there were a few reports of Common Scoter migrating over Lancashire, with reports indicating it was quite the movement of birds. Most of the reports came at around 20:00 but I was not aware of them until already 21:30 by which time those flocks would have had ample time to reach Calderdale and continue towards the North Sea.
However, from Bradshaw, I did some listening and at 21:40 a clear flock of Scoter was heard passing over. Buoyed by this I grabbed my thermal imager, jumped in the car and set off for Soil Hill. There was not much activity however, and during the hour I stayed on the Hill I only recorded one clear flock of six Common Scoter flying over, with just a few calls heard. A very distant large flock of birds flying in formation were probably also Scoter but without calls it's impossible to be sure. A few solitary birds I picked up in the thermal could have been anything!
This morning was once again very pleasant, but with little in the way of standout species. I managed to locate two Jack Snipe this morning but sadly one of these was deceased. A Jay was a nice surprise, initially in the North Slope Tree-Line before flying north. It, or another individual, was spotted flying SW a little time later. A late Common Gull flew north.
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