MISTY MUDFLATS

There was a brief opportunity late on Saturday 19th after the rain had stopped, for a walk to the Point. However the mist descended and it was a pretty gloomy end to the day.
The visibility was poor and peering up the river Colne, it was difficult to tell where the sea finished and the sky began, as in the photo above.

There was a huge golden plover flock roosting on the mud beside the Point with about 2000 birds standing in a dense group. In the poor light there was no hint of any golden colour to the plumage. Alongside there was the gathering of a large gull roost with 2000 birds settling down for the night. Through the mist it seemed as if most of the gulls were black-headed gulls with lots of common gulls too.

Eight red-breasted mergansers flew out of the river past the Point, heading to the outer reaches of the estuary for dusk. There was no sign of the snow buntings that had been present two days earlier.

The grazing fields were looking wetter since the last visit and all the ducks were taking full advantage of the conditions. The wigeon seemed to be spread across most of the field with over 500 birds present along with 100 teal and 100 black-tailed godwits too. A few lapwing, curlew and a couple of redshank were the other waders seen here.

Duck numbers were roughly the same on the park pond as in recent days with 14 tufted duck and 14 gadwall still present, as were a few mallard and shoveler.

There was the welcome sighting of one of the elusive water voles along the dyke. The ripples spreading out across the calm water, betrayed its presence. It stood at the entrance to its burrow just above the water surface and I wondered if it was checking to see if the water level was still rising following all the recent rain. Glyn Evans had reported seeing a water vole along this stretch of dyke at the beginning of the week.