Freezing temperatures for the first half of the night followed by rain. The rain stopped quite early in the morning, leaving a mainly dry day with some sunny spells. Fresh west wind.
Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)
The additional Mute swans had gone leaving the resident 2 adult plus 4 juvenile.
2 Shoveler
3 Gadwall
2 Mallard
4 Coot
This Grey Heron prefers the Main pond when it's quiet, but moves to the "no swimming" pond when disturbed.
South Shore (MD)
I left it till well over an hour past high water, as I wanted to walk around the saltmarsh to check the waders on the east shore. All of the saltmarsh was exposed, with the water just reaching it's outer edge. Even so as I walked around the edge I flushed:
Common Snipe 3
Jack Snipe 3
The good thing about flushing them when the tide is ebbing, is that they just land further inside the marsh.
Wigeon 163
Rock Pipit 1 near the rocky outcrop on the east side
Pied Wagtail 10 feeding together on the waterlogged grass behind the foreshore
Grey Plover 5
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| Two of the Grey Plover |
The sun was low in the sky and one of the Plovers was clearly ready for bed, but the other was still feeding up, showing the totally different feeding technique for the short billed waders.
