Yet another glorious day of sunshine so we decided to head for the coast again, Shingle Street this time. For those who don't know it it's very well named, just miles of shingle beaches and a small scattering of houses. Just north of there is Orford Peninsular, know locally as Orford Island because there is no land access to most of it. In the past it was used by the MOD for development of Radar and Nuclear testing. It's now looked after by the National Trust.
While at Minsmere yesterday our friends told us of a place where they had seen Little Owls and today they were still there looking out of their "burrows" in an old sand quarry.
Looking north from Shingle Street you can see the southern tip of Orford Island where the River Alde finally reaches the sea after a few miles running down the coast parallel with the sea.
There were groups of Cormorants on the end of the island and on an exposed shingle bank.
In the back ground some of the old nuclear experimenting buildings.
I've never seen so many Cormorants in one place, there must have been possibly 200 possibly many more either on the shingle or in the sea.
While watching them we noticed one or two or so had white heads, an old Community post about ones seen before suggested that they may be pre-breeding colours and only very temporary.
The usual coastal Stonechats, this time with the sea as a back drop. While we were here we thought the beach at Shingle Street looked wider than we remembered it and checking our OS Map App we appeared to be standing well out into the sea, these shingle beaches are always shifting about.
By a coastal lagoon, a Little Egret with yellow legs as well as feet.
I'm guessing a juvenile, this one looks very young and fluffy.
Late afternoon we went down the coast to Bawdsey, it was very still and quite surreal. This is the River Deben as it meets the sea, a very dangerous channel at low tide with constantly shifting sand banks to deal with. The River Alde further north is just the same.
The regular spectacle here is the resident Golden Plovers.
Settling back down again. I think they like it here because they are protected all round by the marshes with no paths.
At the end of the day, a very serene view.
The sunshine appears have gone for a while now, I'm just glad to have been able to enjoy it while it lasted.
Best Wishes,
Trevor
Well, the little owl is a stunner, as are the other photos and the weather looked brilliant as well.
Many thanks for sharing.