A lovely sunny day so time for a visit to Walton-on-the-Naze in the hope of picking up a few migrants. As seems to be the case elsewhere The Naze was extremely quiet and on the warbler front I only saw single Chiffchaff and Whitethroat and two Blackcaps, none of which called, so it was very hard work. In fact this photo of a juvenile/female Blakcap was the only shot I got.
Down the slope a Ketrel was quartering the ground and behind the sea-wall a rather tatty Painted Lady was nectaring on the Creeping Thistle.
Along Cormorant Creek I found my first cooperative migrant, a rather lovely juvenile Wheatear. This individual was particualrly confiding and allowed a few shots to be taken before continuing its journey along the wall.
At this point I decided to divert my attention to the beach, somthing I have never really done before at Walton. The tide was on its way in and the last of the rocky outcrops just had their heads above water. One such outcrop was home to a single juvenile Sandwich Tern, while another was the restng place for a small flock of Sanderling.
There must have been large numbers of flies on the muddy fore-shore as several Pied Wagtails were scampering around in search of food. They were, however, no match for the beautifully summer-plumaged Turnstone which seemed to be a bit more at home.
But the star of the show today was this cracking adult Ringed Plover which I managed to manoeuvre to be between myself and the incoming tide, so I just had to wait for it to get pushed closer and closer. How good is that?
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