Down by the Beach

A cold morning at the beach in Norfolk during the winter months always throws up some good birds. These were taken at the start of this year, when it was cold, but not as cold as it is here right now. 

There were some Pintail on a pool at Cley, and on the sea were several Red-breasted Mergansers. The beach held all sorts of waders, with Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Sanderling, Plovers and Curlew. Geese were flying overhead making lots of noise, just in case I hadn't noticed the vast numbers with my own eyes. The sun had not been long in the sky, so it made for some very nice light.

Pintail

Red-breasted Merganser

Common Redshank

Oystercatcher

Sanderling

Sanderling and Oystercatcher

North Wales

A trip out to North Wales to add a few year ticks was very enjoyable. Once again there was very little in the way of sunshine, but the birds on offer more than made up for that. I started at Rhyl to add a Scaup. I had already picked up a Lesser Scaup in Scotland, so to get the pair so early in the year was great. It has been a few years since I last saw one, so was pleased to see it playing ball not too far out on the lake.

I moved on to the Little Orme where an Iceland Gull had been for some time. It took me a long time to locate it, looking down onto a shingle bay that was the perfect camouflage for the bird. After quite some time it appeared from behind a rock. A cracking gull which then took flight around the bay giving some very good views.

Also here at the Litte Orme, I managed to tick off Shag, Red-throated Diver, Fulmar, Eider, Guillemot and Razorbill. A good day out all round.

Iceland Gull

Red-breated Merganser in flight.

Scaup

With a Tufted Duck on the left.

Fun on the Water

Red-breasted Mergansers are regularly seen in the lagoon at Cemlyn Bay, but I always seem to struggle to locate them. This is not helped by their liking for diving regularly and staying far away. On this occasion luck was on my side, as I found a pair close to the road side. I managed to pull over and grab the camera from the boot of the car and take a few quick shots before leaving them to it and before I caused a traffic jam.

Female Red-breasted Merganser

The male

A Little Egret was busy in the shallow water.

A bird that is never easy to get close to to take pictures of is the Little Ringed Plover, and it is a bird that I never make any effort to get close to either. It is a Schedule 1 bird which gives it greater protection and should be left to go about it's business as it wishes without interference or harassment from people. I see a few a year locally, and it is always great to watch them. On this occasion though, I was looking through a sight screen when one came and landed just 20 feet away. It didn't know I was there and as it walked around the muddy margins feeding I managed to get some shots of it. A great little bird.

The distinctive yellow eye ring is a key feature to separating it from the larger Ringed Plover, especially at distance.

This is a Ringed Plover seen on the same day, but on a beach. No yellow eye ring, and with orange legs as opposed to the paler pink of the Little Ringed, and orange bill.

Red-breasted Merganser

The final bird to make it onto my year list was the Red-breasted merganser. This bird seen at West Kirby marine lake took my total for the year to 181 different bird species seen, beating my previous best total by 6 from last year.

A common visitor to the UK coastline in the winter months, this is only the second time that I have actually come across one. Just shows you what you can find if you put your mind to it.
I was aware that a few of these were around the Wirral, so I made a special visit to see them. Great looking diving ducks with a nice spiky hair do and serrated bill to help with their diet of mainly salmon and trout.

Pictured here is the female. Quite similar to the female Goosander in clolouration and overall appearance. Unfortunately it was yet another dull grey day, so the colours are not great.
Still it pushed my year total up, so I'm happy with that. I now have a new target to beat in 2016.

I wish you all a Happy New Year. Here's hoping it's a great one! :-)