Hightown

Ringed plovers

I decided on a day at the seaside. The plan was to go over to Hightown and have a nosy to see what was on the Alt Estuary then bob down to Hall Lane to see what was at Burbo Point thence wherever the spirit bade me. In the event I spent the afternoon walking down from Hightown to Hall Lane doing a bit of wader watching.

Sparrowhawk, Hightown Dunes

I walked down to Hightown Dunes, took a seat and had a look round. There was a lot of noise from Sandwich terns but they were pretty distant and only a few dozen of them this time. In their place were hundreds of black-headed gulls, lesser black-backs and herring gulls. A large flock of oystercatchers were over by the M.O.D. firing range while curlews and redshanks fed closer in.

From Hightown Dunes

On a whim I took the path along the shore. A large flock of linnets were skittish as they fed on one of the loose rubble sea defences. They had good reason to be skittish when a sparrowhawk flew in and circled round for five minutes, scattering panicking linnets and pied wagtails to the four winds. The linnets eventually came back but we're still skittish. I realised why when I saw a weasel trotting about the broken brickwork. It carried on rummaging around, giving me plenty of opportunities to get some "A weasel was there a moment ago photos."

Grey plovers

A few waders in the mid-distance gave me some ID problems until I'd walked down far enough to not be seeing them in silhouette. Even so I suspect I'd have struggled if the grey plovers weren't still in black-bellied Summer garb.

Curlew

Redshanks

A small flock of bar-tailed godwits flew out to the distant water's edge. Small flocks of small waders skittered around, luckily they flew in fairly close so I could see they were ringed plovers and dunlins. A few of the juvenile ringed plovers were significantly smaller than the others which puzzled me a bit and it wasn't until I'd seen them in flight that I could confirm their identity. 

Dunlins and ringed plovers

As ever when there are plenty of curlews about there are a few small individuals with relatively short bills to keep things confusing. I managed to find a couple of whimbrels feeding well away from the curlews, joining starlings and carrion crows feeding on a rocky breakwater. It was the purest accident that I noticed them: one popped its head up for a moment and I noticed its crowbar beak in silhouette.

Wheatear

I'd was approaching Fort Crosby when I bumped into the first wheatear of the day. I spent the next hour tripping over them. 

Dewberries

The dunes along the final stretch of the walk were thickly dusted in indigo blue dewberries. They looked delightful.