Morning on the Wirral.

Last night....predicted for the next few days was gorgeous weather, and guess what? ..totally wrong, but not to be defeated I tried to make the most of it. At Meols I managed to capture a lovely Little Egret fishing for food, even though it was very cloudy, it was still worth watching it wading in the little pools. By the time we got to Hoylake the sun was beginning to put in an appearance as the tide was coming in....this is where I caught sight of a magnificent abundance of Oystercatchers and Herring Gulls (at least 2000). Later in the car at New Brighton, I was tucking into a sandwhich and steaming coffee when I spotted a few Sandwhich Turns on the beach...obviously coffee and sandwhiches were abandoned in favour of taking these lucky shots from the car window. So all-in-all it was a very good day!
Little Egret.

Sandwich Tern.

Sandwich Tern .

Oystercatchers @ Hoylake.

Hoylake.

Hoylake.

Spurn.

What a glorious day for the birds at Spurn in East Yorkshire, which is one of the best hotspots for bird migration....so much so, an overnight stay was warrented!
On arriving at Spurn, after a very early start, it was straight to Sammy's Point for the Woodchat Shrike. This impressive bird (all the way from the Mediterranian)was quite happy just posing for the camera, flying off to catch wasps and bees and then returning to another closeby bush. Also in the same vacinity were, 7 Redstarts, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, a couple of Wheatears and 2 Whitethroat.A lovely sunny end to the day...after a somewhat foggy, misty early morning.
Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


Woodchat Shrike.


The scenery was so picturesque both at Sammy's Point and the Spurn Peninsular that I had to record the beautiful images that were in front of me. These were just a selection that I particularly liked.It seems such a shame that the sea has reclaimed quite a bit of the land (including a whole village that existed about a hundred years ago). There had been a very high tide early this morning and the road to the Peninsular was closed till it had subsided, who knows how long it will be till this will also be reclaimed by the sea. It really is a worthwhile place to visit and deserves a lot more than 2 days....so watch this space.
Spotted Flycatcher.


Redstart.

Pectoral Sandpiper.

Draycote Water.

On hearing of a rarety at Draycote Water, Warwickshire,I got up at the crack of dawn to get down there early......and it was well worth it! I managed to get these images of this beautiful juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper. This lovely bird was probably blown in on last week's strong winds...all the way from America. The last time a Pectorial Sandpiper was reported here was in 2005. I felt really honoured to have seen it.It was also very nice to see all the lads and Dianne again.

Inner Marsh Farm

I decided to pay another visit to IMF this afternoon, as the weather was still very nice. No Merlin today unfortunatly, although it had been spotted earlier. I was still pleased to watch and capture the Moorhen. Also the Black-tailed Godwits still had the lovely warm red of their partial summer plummage. A lovely, peaceful end to the day.
Moorhen.

Black-tailed Godwit,s.

Inner Marsh Farm.

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon...so I headed for Inner Marsh Farm, as soon as I got there, there was a Wood Sandpiper showing really well in front of the hide, it was bathed in sunlight and showed off its beautiful plummage. A few minutes later a Stonechat settled on one of the reeds in front of the hide as well, and most rewarding of all was a Merlin swooping down onto a Snipe on the island, in full view of the hide, she then continued to tuck into her prey, feathers flying everywhere! A really spectacular sight and a first for me.
Merlin.

Stonechat.

Wood Sandpiper.

Norfolk.

Here we are again, back in Norfolk! The weather here has been exceptionally windy, but far better than the weather back at home.Our first port of call was Brancaster Staithe harbour....we were richly rewarded with above 80 Ringed Plovers, an abundance of Dunlin,Turnstone, one Little Egret, a Greenshank and a couple of Curlews......and all this from using the car as a hide! A very rewarding day.
Dunlin.

Dunlin.

Ringed Plover.

Turnstone.