A couple of weeks ago I headed over to the Wirral coast to watch the waders moving during the high tide. I ended up at Hoylake where an hour before high tide the sea looked a good mile or more away. It moves quite quickly here and it was fun watching the birds shuffle closer together before taking flight to find a dry bit of sand. The usual suspects were in attendance, with Oystercatchers, Curlew, Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and Knot all mingling together. At one point a Peregrine flew through which caused pandemonium. It left empty handed though.
A couple of Bar-tailed Godwits were a welcome addition to the day list, and as I don't go to the coast as often as I should they're a bird that I don't get to see all that often. With them were hundreds of Knot. Again a bird I'd not seen for a year or two, mainly due to me not visiting the areas they like to hang out. All in all though it was a very good few hours and reminded me I need to do this more often.
Bar-tailed Godwir on the left with a supporting cast of Knot.
They look magnificent in large numbers for sure. Poetic.
ReplyDeleteGreat sightings and photos of the Knots and the Godwit. There is usually good birding at the coast here. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a wonderful weekend. PS, thanks so much for leaving me a comment.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great birdwatching day, such fantastic captures!
ReplyDeleteYour photo of birds in flight is really great!
ReplyDeleteI agree Adam. We should all make the effort to see Knot, in numbers or small flocks. They can be a good study species of moult and migration. Sometimes they can be very difficult to observe close at hand, other timed fairly friendly.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos. It must be wonderful to see so many of them at once, and I love their grey color.
ReplyDelete...high tide yielded a bounty for you!
ReplyDelete