BEFORE THE RAIN

Managed to fit in a walk along the park seawall on the morning of Saturday 8th, before the weather turned wet and windy. The grey skies seemed to match the colour of the water in the dyke, as pictured above.

From the seawall there were views of the grazing fields where 200 wigeon were grazing in one corner while in another corner 50 teal were gathered in one of the pools. Fifty black-tailed godwits, 70 lapwing and 30 golden plover were the waders seen feeding in the fields.
No sign of the stonechat anywhere but 25 goldfinches were seen in the fields.

The tide had nearly covered the mud near the Point but there was the nice sight of 40 avocets in the shallow water. Some were wading up to their chests as they fed, while others snoozed as the tide inched higher around them. In the river a pair of red-breasted mergansers were bobbing up and down in the water as were 50 shelduck.

Had a pleasant surprise of watching two snow buntings fly along the beach and apparently drop down amongst some of the scattered plants. However when I walked through the area where I thought they may have landed, there was no sight of them. The search was only half-hearted as I didn't really want to flush them away. There had been a report of these snow buntings in the area four days previously.

Earlier in the morning three hundred brent geese grazed the algae on the mudflats in front of the park as the tide came in. Closer scrutiny of this group of dark-bellied brent, revealed a pale-bellied brent goose with its whiter sides to the body. This isn't the regular race of brent goose here but there have been one or two seen in recent winters.
The brent geese appear to be spending most of their time in recent days feeding on nearby wheat fields.

Fieldfares continue to be seen with a couple in the car park early in the day and then around noon, a flock of about fifty birds battled their way through the wind and rain over the deserted car park. Three redwings and a great spotted woodpecker also flew over the car park.