Photo necessity brings a fluke

The safari was doing some last minute prep work for the talk about the beach we’re giving tonight and decided that one of the pics, of perhaps the beach’s most important inhabitant Sabellaria alveolata, was a bit too duff and we couldn’t find a suitable replacement. Only one thing to do on a bright sunny morning – go and get some new pics. Luckily the tide was out and finding suitable subjects wasn’t difficult. 

Being on the beach with camera in hand we just couldn’t resist a bit of a stroll for a look-see. We aimed for the outfall pipe as there is often an accumulation of shells n stuff there. After only walking a few yards we realised that the wader in the runnel in front of us was a Bar Tailed Godwit (112, P2#40). A nice bonus bird not often seen on the beach here. It allowed a fairly close approach but was a bit skittish tending to run away if we overstepped the mark. 

 Six Mute Swans, five adults and a juvenile, on the sea to the north at lunchtime was probably a better Patch 2 tick (#41). When first seen we wrongly assumed they would be Whooper Swans as these are the ones we see from here most often. In calm weather and excellent visibility the question that require answers are; what were they doing there, where had they come from and where were they going? We didn’t have time to walk up that far and see if any were sporting Darvik rings.

Where to next? Another P2 tick tomorrow?

In the meantime let us know what you fluked upon in your outback.