Sometimes a rainy day is good for birdwatching. Today was such a day - milder than of late and with intermittent rain all day. Perhaps not awfully good for photography, although birds do stand out quite well because they are wet.
That aside, the day was off to a good start with a skein of Barnacles flying raggedly eastwards over the saltmarsh at Campfield - pushed along by a strong tail wind.
Barnacles flying east at dawn.
A few stragglers.
Later, having dealt with a pressing appointment in Kirkbride, it gave us a good excuse to pick up hot pies and cool drinks and head for our favourite lunchtime pull in, overlooking the Wampool Estuary near Anthorn. As we crossed Whitrigg Bridge we could already see small flocks of Pinkfeet restlessly flying over and landing on Angerton Marsh.
Pinkfeet coming in to land . . .
. . . on Angerton Marsh.
As we lunched, we were about an hour ahead of the high tide (highest of the current series). It is always exciting to watch the rip of the tide as it quickly sweeps in and covers the mudflats - ten minutes is all that it takes! You wouldn't stand a chance to outrun it, if you were out on the flats! Suddenly a small flock of Barnacles appeared, heading straight towards us and then disappearing beyond the gorse lining the road. Then we saw skeins of geese taking off across the river and flying out towards the coast. Bang! Bang! echoed across the river - shooters must have been lying in wait for them, as the incoming tide flushed them off the marshes opposite. Sad to hear and see!
Disturbed Pinkfeet across the river.
The tide by now was flooding the saltmarsh below us and Curlew, Lapwing and Redshank began to appear - feeding on whatever the incoming tide brought with it.
Redshank feeding on the now flooded saltmarsh near Anthorn.
As we moved off, we spotted that the flock of Barnacles we had seen, had landed beyond the gorse and were grazing below the masts on the right-hand side of the road. There were about 20 including a leucistic bird. We could see that one of the Barnacles had a white tag on its right leg, but were not able to indentify the lettering. In the field beyond them were several thousand Golden Plover restlessly feeding alongside groups of Starlings and Lapwings. The fields under the masts at Anthorn are often a good spot to see these flocks, at this time of the year.
Some of the small Barnacle flock including a leucistic bird, in fields under the Anthorn masts.
Tagged Barnacle amongst the flock (the now growing recently planted hedge, made better viewing difficult).
Golden Plover flock in fields beyond.
Nearing Cardurnock, a flock of Lapwings flew ahead and landed in an estuary-side field.
Lapwings landing near Cardurnock.
Carrying on to Campfield Marsh, the tide was now well up on the marsh. A few gulls and small group of Curlew were inhabiting Saltmarsh Pool, with wader roosts visible along the tide's edge.
Curlew in Saltmarsh Pool.
A wader roost along the saltmarsh edge.