Nina P
Nina
November 20th in Mudeford Harbour - 2004
Today it was sleeting and really miserable weather and we almost never set out! Well as we were together perhaps we should just bird from the car, so Trish and I sat watching the birds from the car but we needed to get nearer the water, so we set up close to the Dingy park as the water is closest there, and the tide was well out, but there were plenty of Starlings flying about and the Black headed Gull were ever present, but a few Oyster Catchers were also parading over the grassy area. Mallards and swans of course were also there, but then we spotted something different, so what was it? Not the ususal Redshanks, so we had to look them up, we think they were Dunlin, very skittish and often flitting off just as you got them in focus, but that is what we eventually decided they were, then the Redshank appeared, that one we knew but conditions were not very nice trying to ID through windscreen wipers and Hand held scope! The there were a flock of little birds, now what were they? there was a car pulled up next to us and they were so noisy and kept slamming their doors so the birds were upeed so ofte it was becoming frustrating and then a crowd of four screaming kids upped them and the tide was really coming in now, were we ever going to identify these tiny little birds? then suddenly an Egret appeared, this was definately a Little Egret, and more Redshank, and a few Dunlin, then we got the ID of Little Stints just beating the tide for possibly ragworm and Coot. We were finally getting there, the Little Stints were coming in closer and ignoring the people about as not much sandy mud left, and the Pied wagtails joined in on the shore line. Trish got some rather nice shots of Oyster catcher and a small group of birds on the shore, I hope she will add them to this thread, just to show we work quite well together. My shots are awful as usual, but I'll add one just to show how bad they are!
Today it was sleeting and really miserable weather and we almost never set out! Well as we were together perhaps we should just bird from the car, so Trish and I sat watching the birds from the car but we needed to get nearer the water, so we set up close to the Dingy park as the water is closest there, and the tide was well out, but there were plenty of Starlings flying about and the Black headed Gull were ever present, but a few Oyster Catchers were also parading over the grassy area. Mallards and swans of course were also there, but then we spotted something different, so what was it? Not the ususal Redshanks, so we had to look them up, we think they were Dunlin, very skittish and often flitting off just as you got them in focus, but that is what we eventually decided they were, then the Redshank appeared, that one we knew but conditions were not very nice trying to ID through windscreen wipers and Hand held scope! The there were a flock of little birds, now what were they? there was a car pulled up next to us and they were so noisy and kept slamming their doors so the birds were upeed so ofte it was becoming frustrating and then a crowd of four screaming kids upped them and the tide was really coming in now, were we ever going to identify these tiny little birds? then suddenly an Egret appeared, this was definately a Little Egret, and more Redshank, and a few Dunlin, then we got the ID of Little Stints just beating the tide for possibly ragworm and Coot. We were finally getting there, the Little Stints were coming in closer and ignoring the people about as not much sandy mud left, and the Pied wagtails joined in on the shore line. Trish got some rather nice shots of Oyster catcher and a small group of birds on the shore, I hope she will add them to this thread, just to show we work quite well together. My shots are awful as usual, but I'll add one just to show how bad they are!
