I'm afraid I've done it again - posting photos weeks after the visit was actually made! I did have a monster number of photos to go through, though ......... it was a good day for sightings:
This robin flaunted itself on our way to the welcome hub.
Slurp! This young avocet is successfully sourcing a meal.
Catching some Zs on the mud flats!
A lovely black-headed gull, heading out of breeding season. It'll be late January before I start seeing any sign of their hoods again.
A beautiful lapwing flyby.
Two rather scruffy ruffs. The avocets, for some reason, didn't like these being around and kept chasing them.
This ruff found the avocets' behaviour a little tiresome.
Wish the sun had come out to highlight this lapwing's gorgeous colours.
Who's going where???
Two adorable youngsters. Mum wasn't far away.
Dunlin arriving en masse. Do they ever arrive any other way?
The saltmarsh side of the Parrinder hides is usually good for curlews, and so it proved for me!
The curlew wasn't happy when the marsh harrier appeared ...... but I certainly was.
This curlew didn't seem to realise it didn't need to put on such a performance to draw our attention. That amazing beak generally does the trick.
I love shelducks. They are so colourful!
A small dust cloud on the path ............
......... turned out to be a skylark! I wasn't expecting to see one of these so it was a nice surprise.
One more before it disappears from sight!
I now know there is such a thing as a bloody-nosed beetle. You live and learn.
My best attempt at a flying sand martin. I'm getting there .......... very, very slowly.
I'm used to bigger birds, like this beautiful buzzard.
Finishing with this blackbird at the picnic area.
Enjoy!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Birdies LG DU update.
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Kind regards, Ann