DUCKING AND DIVING

Coastal light on Sunday 4th returned back to normal weather with grey skies all day. The only similarity with yesterday was the lack of wind. At high tide the sea was flat calm and conditions for scanning out to sea were excellent as there was no sun to stare into. The last few days the wigeon have taken to spending long periods at sea and a good count of 460 was made. Even more surprising was seeing three pairs of pintail amongst them - the males with their striking long pointed tails.

Scanning round with the telescope a red-throated diver was picked up in flight and when it alighted, it landed beside another red-throated. More scanning revealed three others which will make this a good count this winter. The telescope made viewing easier and although one diver came close enough to see it's eye, the bird was still about 300 metres away.
Probably even further away to the south west from the park was a pair of slavonian grebes, happily drifting on the incoming tide. Compact small grebes with a shorter neck than the great crested, they spent quite a bit of time preening and for once not seen diving under the water.

Further out were four red-breasted mergansers joining in the raft of ducks, divers, grebes and brent geese. Straining the eye towards the very distant Colne Point almost two miles away there were several hundred ducks took to the air. Passing overhead was a marsh harrier that looked as if it had crossed over the water from Bradwell.
The distinctive shape of a couple of common seals stuck their heads above water way out to sea.

Late afternoon saw the mudflats fill up with waders and gulls all eager to see what treats the receding tide had left them. My favourite are the tiny silvery sanderling that blended in so well with the grey silvery mud. The group of 24 were easy to spot because they ran around so fast. If us humans ran around that fast on the mud we would be falling over the whole time. Joining in this Mersea mud feast were oystercatchers, redshank, dunlin, curlew, turnstone, grey plover and ringed plover.