Friday 19 January 2007

CALM AFTER THE STORM




Contrasting weather with the gale force winds and driving rain of yesterday being replaced by warm sunshine and a slight breeze. It shouldn't have been that surprising to have seen a red admiral basking on an old concrete pillbox at Cudmore Grove today the 19th. A splash of colour to brighten up the day even more. Where did it hide yesterday in all that nasty weather?

The grazing fields are saturated with rain-water which is great news for the ducks and those waders with long legs. The best sight was a large flock of about 350 black-tailed godwits probing and jabbing their long bills into the soft ground. Some were amongst the brent geese and the wigeon whilst others kept to themselves in a large group.
When something spooked this lot into the air, the flock flickered into the air. The bright white wing bars and clear white underneaths flashed rapidly as the birds chopped and changed direction as they decided where to go. In the end they dropped back down and carried on feeding.

Also in the wet fields were 150 dunlin, 10 redshank, 50 curlew and a few turnstone and as this was at high tide, this meant it was extra feeding time. For the birds they can still feed on worms, it's just that these ones don't taste of salt!

Having a great time feeding right above the high tide on the beach were a pair of stonechats. Perching on top of some straggly sea-blite bushes, the birds performed their little sallies, darting out to catch flies, before returning to the same look-out twig.

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