7th May 2012
Summer-plumaged waders at high tide roost
Another unsettled day of wet weather
gave uncertainty to our walk this evening, fortunately it was a dry but cool
evening at the high tide roost. On arrival the high tide seemed some time away.
Had I got the tide tables wrong? It was a great relief to see the tide rapidly
coming in, with the distant oystercatchers (350) on the furthest spit soon
becoming unsettled, and moving closer to the second nearest shingle bar. Other
small flocks began to fly in from The Wash and other species began to move over
from the shingle ridges where they had been sheltering unseen from the cool
wind.
Unlike the earlier visit to the roost
most species we began to encounter were in partial or full summer plumage, most
notably at first were the stunning 300 grey plovers, then the 450 sanderling, quite different in their rusty brown,
black and grey plumage from the almost pale grey white birds we had seen on the
earlier visit. The few bar-tailed godwits present were mostly still in winter
plumage, but finally we did pick up the odd dark chesnut bird in summer
plumage, along with 25 knot and 2-3 dunlin. The “local” birds also showed with
ringed plovers and an oystercatcher located in the breeding cordons on their
nests. There were some moments of panic as the roost rose quickly to the air,
with the male sparrowhawk late on being the likely culprit.
Other signs of summer were really
difficult to detect due to the cold conditions other than a handful of swallows
migrating west. a brave distant cuckoo heard over the golf course, and late on
little, and Sandwich terns putting an appearance in, on what otherwise was a
poor evening for any bird song.
Out at sea we did mange to pick out a
grey seal, 6 eider, a great crested grebe and close too dusk, two little egrets
heading east. On our walk back the wind was unfortunately too strong to stand
any chance of seeing the local barn owls.
