After a very successful morning at the fabulous Titchwell Reserve time to move on to the beach. As would be expected at this time of year there weren't too many waders about, but on an ebbing tide areas of shellfish beds were being exposed and were attracting a few birds. One of the most conspicuous birds on the shoreline was this stonking sub-adult Great Black-backed Gull.
No beach is complete without the chorus of Oystercatchers and today was no different with many birds running around head-down squawking their heads off. A lone Curlew looked on unimpressed.
Turnstones were now starting to return still in their breeding plumage, but not quite as confiding as some of the birds that spend the winter here around our coast.
Titchwell Beach is normally one of the best sites to photograph Bar-tailed Godwits, but today all the Godwits were Black-tailed as can be seen by the white wing-bars in flight.
Now on to the Parinder Hide and the first bird on show was this Meadow Pipit that was wading in the shallows looking for tasty morsels.
A lone Golden Plover looked a bit out of place, but many more will be arriving in the next day or so.
On the mud a Yellow Wagtail was searching for insects and on occasions came quite close to the hide allowing some nice close-ups to be taken.
The mud was deeply cracked and the wagtail spent quite an amount of time looking down the cracks for any food lurking there.
But then the bit of luck we all hope for. A white-rumped sandpiper flew in to the pool in front of the hide and disappeared at the far end of the hide. The bird wasn't black and white which ruled out Green Sandpiper, so was most probably a White-rumped Sandpiper or a Wood sandpiper. A White-rumped would have been nice, but I had to settle for a Wood Sandpiper that was parading up and down right outside the window. Still mustn't grumble.
How fantastic was that???
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