Dave, I suspect that I'll be safe as far as the rock dwelling calidrid action goes next weekend.
Helen, as you know I'm a two-scope family. And they have to have names. It's nothing illegal.
Well, as mentioned by Ben, there were a few thrushes around this morning and I had some nice views of one or two Fieldfares and a Redwing in the rowan trees on Abbey Road. I still haven't found the famous zebra crossing there yet. Maybe they got rid of it. A house rarity was a Chaffinch flying over. Not too many of those around at the moment, it seems.
It was rather a fine day but I didn't head out till early afternoon when I was back on high tide duty at the pier. Wader totals as follows *drum roll* Turnstone 94, Redshank 112, Oystercatcher 151, Knot 1 and the Purple Sandpiper Totaliser bounds on further to,
93
Woah! I did have a bit of a fun PM only quiz with a couple of 'regular contributors' asking them what they thought the Totaliser would be up to. Their guesses (I'll spare their blushes by not telling who they were) were 43 (chortle) and a slightly more respectable 79 +/- 5. But perhaps there's an amusing quiz in here. Can you guess the next highest total for the totaliser i.e. the total when we beat 93?
Nine of the Purps had red colour rings and most of these, it's now apparent, have yellow flags on their right legs. They're hard to see though, being quite high up on the tibia and usually obscured by feathers. Checking the colour ringing site, it now seems pretty certain that these birds will have been ringed on Greyhope Bay, although presumably in previous winters so it's at least good to see them coming back to old haunts.
Not too much other stuff out and about this afternoon. A Redwing was at the Battery, a Red-throated Diver on the harbour, a female Stonechat on the north bank and a drake 'borealis type' Eider was on the pier with the Purple Sands. I had two flocks of Siskins flying inland, totalling around 20 birds.
Then, back at the flat, I had rather a welcome house tick: a Black Guillemot flying off the harbour mouth and then coming down on the sea. It was quite far off but the light was so good I could even see its red legs as it landed.
Now, it's come to my attention that some people have been suggesting a certain 'lack of quality' in some of the photography on this thread, so I decided to have a bit more of a go at taking some decent shots today. So, out came the big man and the following were the most favourable results. I await Dr G's judgement.