Tuesday 23 October 2012

The Safari only noted three notable things to note down in the notebook today. A very grey and gloomy day all round. 
On the flat calm sea there were probably over 300 Common Scoters in the distance and close by three Great Crested Grebes flew north while a fourth just sat still. Not too far away and also sitting still was a Red Throated Diver. These weren't the notables though.
They were a juvenile/1st winter Herring Gull being very inquisitive with a Edible Whelk eventually it extricated a Hermit Crab from the curly innards of the shell, involving a lot of footwork along with the standard beakwork - never seen that before - interesting stuff!
The second notable note was a Pied Wagtail way way out on the beach catching flies on the edge of a runnel and the third also involved flies...the local Starlings were on the wall only a few feet from us pecking hundreds of tiny flies off the top of the wall - annoyingly we'd decoded the light was too grotty for pics and these Starlings were the absolute tops we could have filled our boots or at least the SD card.
Overhead we had a few Grey Wagtails and Pied Wagtails but nothing else. Last night we heard Redwings going over but there may be more tonight as 21,100 YES 21 THOUSAND!!!) were counted at Spurn yesterday - Holy sh*t!!!
We've put the link to Spurn BO on the side bar so you can keep up to date with the comings and goings there (they also had a Stormy yesterday - lucky so n sos) and decide if you want to give up birding or not! Have to say everyday isn't like that though as the Young Uns found out on Saturday when it was fairly quiet. We've had a few quiet days there too over the years but we have also had some crackers like Goldcrests landing on us at dawn and a Buzzard landing on the beach and being washed up to terra-firma by the incoming waves before walking somewhat bedraggled into the dunes.
All good stuff.
Where to next? More gloomy Patch 2 probably.
In the meantime let us know if it was light enough to see anything in your outback.In the meanmeantime we wouldn't mind a crack at this little jaunt in the Land Rover!

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