At Arne

[puddleshark]

Spoonbills. For a few years now, there has been a wintering population of Spoonbills out on the harbour, but they are usually just tiny white dots, snoozing with their heads tucked in, on the mudflats in the far distance. It was lovely to have such a close sighting.




The wind finally dropped. A morning of broken cloud and sunshine. Took a walk down to the edge of the harbour at Arne.


Took off my jacket to drape over a very damp bench, and sat in the sun for a while by the harbour's edge. Sounds: the piping calls of Oystercatchers, and the chugging engines of the small boats dredging for shellfish.


A Robin keeping me company.

When the sun went in, walked on as far as the bird hide, and sat there for a while watching the wading birds coming and going. They were a bit too far away for my not-very-big lens, but by cropping the images I got some rather blurred ID shots.


Redshank.


Oystercatcher.


Curlew.


Back to the visitor centre, following the Silver Birch Trail.

Comments

[greenwoodside]

Some of my favourite things! (Curlews, silver birches and oystercatchers). No offence intended to the redshank. I'm not even sure if I've ever seen one. Though I heard a curlew once a long time ago by the Ring of Brodgar and saw it swooping above the moorland, and the cheep cheep of oystercatchers still resounds in my ears when I think of Arran.

[kaishin108]

That Robin is lovely. and those Birch trees!

[puddleshark]

Poor redshanks. They're rather small, and inconspicuous apart from the red legs. They cannot compete with the glamour of curlews and oystercatchers!

It's my favourite thing about walking at the water's edge in winter, hearing the calls of the wading birds. So evocative.

[puddleshark]

Robins are very tame in this country, so I have a lot of close-up photos of robins! I wish other birds were that easy to photograph!

[greenwoodside]

Now I feel rather guilty for neglecting redshanks! A trip to YouTube suggests there's nothing inconspicuous about their call. I'll listen out for them next time I'm up by the Wirral.