Yesterday we had skeins of geese flying over us, heading south, greylags as best I could tell, so today we walked into the countryside and back along....
....the seawall that controls the Deben in its estuary in the hope of seeing more geese, which we didn't. Compared to this time last year there seemed to be fewer wading birds, the only group being....
....of a dozen redshanks busy probing in the mud.
It seemed to be turning into a disappointing walk when we spotted this bird, an avocet, a species I haven't seen since David and I made an expedition to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere when we lived in Maldon, when we saw several.
Avocets were extinct in Britain until they returned in 1940, after which their numbers, with human encouragement, have steadily increased.
This one seemed very content alone, preening itself, until....
....it was disconcerted by the arrival of another wader. This one was much more difficult to identify but may be one of the godwits.
The differences between the bar-tailed and black-tailed species are slight, and even less evident if the bird is not in flight. That said, this one seems to be a black-tailed specimen.
Well-satisfied with the sighting of two unusual waders, we repaired to the local pub to celebrate.
No comments:
Post a Comment