Gulls and a Godwit

After a couple of quiet days we decided to have a look at the Beach Pool but not really expecting much of a change.

The dunes and beach were still busy with holidaymakers and locals enjoying the evening sunshine.
The tide had receded two hundred yards or more and our bins picked up a small flock of Black-headed Gulls feeding alongside the Herring Gulls.
Swallows were hawking insects really low ..almost on the beach itself… their twisting and turning sets photographers a real problem one which I have not fully mastered.
A lonesome Crow and solitary Cormorant completed the shoreline tally which was as much as we really expected.

The Gorse Walk did not produce much….Goldfinch, Blackbird and the odd butterfly…. as was expected and will probably now remain quiet till the autumn months approach.

Arriving back at the Beach Pool I noticed the small amount of gulls in attendance ….usually all the post and perching spots are occupied and the ground alive with squabbling gulls. I suppose the pickings were abundant elsewhere. The gull tally was certainly the lowest since I have started the blog.
Identifying of gulls can prove a real nightmare and requires a lot of skill and observation before it becomes second nature. I have not got up to that standard yet but I shall continue to persevere with the odd I.D howler expected.
Swans, Geese, Mallards and the often elusive Coot were all close to the edge and hustling for the visitors bread but the Warblers in the reed bed remained silent and did not show.

It was while scanning the far reed bed where a Heron was standing motionless that Angie noticed the lone newcomer, which we later identified as a Black-tailed Godwit..
The Godwit was a first for the Baywatch patch list and the fifty-eighth overall.
Later on in the year the list should be increased by the arrival of wintering waders and wildfowl plus the Bay has become a noted hotspot for the Loons and Grebes that seek the calmer waters offshore