I woke up to another wet, dull and misty morning....so stayed in bed a little longer than I really wanted to! At just gone seven I finally dragged myself up and headed down to Blackhole Marsh, before the workmen arrived.
It was worthwhile, as with the small wader flock was my first patch Sanderling of 2010 - I think a first for the marsh! Sanderling is a scarce bird on the river, with most of our records concerning birds on/past the beach in late spring. As I've already said, it was misty and drizzly, an excellent excuse for posting a photo of this quality...
Yes I know - crap! Smart bird though :-)
Other birds on the marsh included: 2 Oystercatcher, 39 Ringed Plover, 42 Dunlin, 2 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, 3 Common Sandpiper and a Water Rail which was showing very well in the north west corner. Spotted Crake next please :-)
So how much work did the workforce manage yesterday - a day of almost constant rain. This is how it looked this morning...
Well they've put another pair of posts in the ground!
At about 8am, I suddenly realised the weather had cleared, and the noticeable south west wind lured me to the seafront and my favoured sea watching spot for 'rough but dry conditions' - the Spot On Kiosk. It proved a good move as between 08:20 - 09:40 I notched up the following:
1 Great Crested Grebe - flew west, I always think these look stupid in flight!
2 Common Scoter
4 Balearic Shearwater - 1w at 08:25, 3w at 9am (1 v.dark bird)
2 Great Skua - juv west at 08:35, adult west at 09:20
2 Arctic Skua - 2 west also at 09:20, too distant to age
3 Kittiwake
2 Common Tern
9 Dunlin
One of the Common Terns passed quite close, so I just HAD to whip the Lumix out...
...just a pity I was a little late in 'whipping it out!'
Numbers of large Gulls on the Estuary during this rough spell of weather have been surprisingly poor, though both sizes of Black-backed Gulls are making up a higher percentage than usual. In the small collection present on the river early this afternoon was this rather black mantled and long-winged Leeb...
intermedius-type!? Although it doesn't look that dark in this pic, it wasn't far off GBBG colour
It was worthwhile, as with the small wader flock was my first patch Sanderling of 2010 - I think a first for the marsh! Sanderling is a scarce bird on the river, with most of our records concerning birds on/past the beach in late spring. As I've already said, it was misty and drizzly, an excellent excuse for posting a photo of this quality...
Yes I know - crap! Smart bird though :-)Other birds on the marsh included: 2 Oystercatcher, 39 Ringed Plover, 42 Dunlin, 2 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, 3 Common Sandpiper and a Water Rail which was showing very well in the north west corner. Spotted Crake next please :-)
So how much work did the workforce manage yesterday - a day of almost constant rain. This is how it looked this morning...
Well they've put another pair of posts in the ground!At about 8am, I suddenly realised the weather had cleared, and the noticeable south west wind lured me to the seafront and my favoured sea watching spot for 'rough but dry conditions' - the Spot On Kiosk. It proved a good move as between 08:20 - 09:40 I notched up the following:
1 Great Crested Grebe - flew west, I always think these look stupid in flight!
2 Common Scoter
4 Balearic Shearwater - 1w at 08:25, 3w at 9am (1 v.dark bird)
2 Great Skua - juv west at 08:35, adult west at 09:20
2 Arctic Skua - 2 west also at 09:20, too distant to age
3 Kittiwake
2 Common Tern
9 Dunlin
1 Curlew
One of the Common Terns passed quite close, so I just HAD to whip the Lumix out...
...just a pity I was a little late in 'whipping it out!'Numbers of large Gulls on the Estuary during this rough spell of weather have been surprisingly poor, though both sizes of Black-backed Gulls are making up a higher percentage than usual. In the small collection present on the river early this afternoon was this rather black mantled and long-winged Leeb...
intermedius-type!? Although it doesn't look that dark in this pic, it wasn't far off GBBG colourThe more observant blog browsers may have noticed a change in the name of this blog (not to mention a total re-vamp in layout!). I thought I'd go for a short, simple and obvious title - I should have changed it yonks ago really!
If you are a fellow blogger and have my blog in your blog list (for which I am much obliged), if the name change doesn't show up can you remove then re-instate me, that should do it. Thankyou :-)
If you are a fellow blogger and have my blog in your blog list (for which I am much obliged), if the name change doesn't show up can you remove then re-instate me, that should do it. Thankyou :-)
Liking the update.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adam :-)
ReplyDelete