Somewhere (Near The Rainbow)

I wanted to bird but I stopped at Gulf Lane because it was a pretty spectacular rainbow, even if it was accompanied by torrential hail stones. If I’d had an 18mm lens I could have got both ends of the light show in the picture.

A Pilling Rainbow

I was on my way back from Conder Green after a couple of hours of not very productive birding where 3 Spotted Redshanks in the creeks may well have been the highlight because apart from the usual 7 Snipe, 1 Greenshank, 5 Redshank, 2 Curlew and circa 50 Teal, all was quiet. From the platform I looked west into the afternoon light but couldn’t see more than 5 Little Grebe silhouettes. I was peering in the opposite direction when I heard the splash of a Kingfisher behind me but as I turned it had already returned to the stone parapet. As I made for the camera it shot around the pool in a semi-circle before hovering Kestrel-like for a second or two before disappearing again. The bird is still here then, but the light is much better in the morning direction for trying to photograph a Kingfisher.

Redshank
I checked out the flock of 40ish Greenfinch at Cockersands where I bumped into PW and JB, but I left them to do the heroic stuff like counting the waders on the beach from the windswept road. For wader enthusiasts I am sure there will be a count here http://woodruff4.blogspot.com/

Near Lane Ends the fields were awash with mainly 350 Lapwings, 60 or so Curlew, several Redshank and 1 Golden Plover, a species strangely absent so far this autumn.

At Fluke Hall Lane the geese were being sent out to the marsh by a combination of a camera toting clown walking along the roadside in full sight of the massed flock, ably assisted by the noisy Hi-fly quad bike arriving with sacks of wheat. I managed to find 5 Barnacle Geese with the thousands of pink-feet before the whole lot erupted out of sight, but even as I took the shot the geese were up and alert, ready to go.

Pink-footed Goose

From the car park I heard the Chiffchaff again and if it is the same one it has been around for several days now, with Robins and Long-tailed Tits for company. Several Little Egrets were huddled together on the shore and by scanning east and west waiting for heads to pop up and down from the old ditches I doubled that score to 15, no problem.

Robin

With luck we might just squeeze a ringing session in on Wednesday morning – overnight frost and 10mph northerlies. Could be worse.