Seymour Birdies Diary: A Day on the Beach at Walton-on-the-Naze

28th July 2022

The end of July so time for a walk along the beach at Walton on a lovely sunny day. The bushes on the way down to the sea wall were extremely quiet, and in fact the only passerine seen was this splendid Greenfinch. Good to see that they are making a recovery.

On the beach a pair of Sky Larks provided the first opportunity for some shots. So well camouflaged against the stony beach.

Now an increasing occurrence was the presence of a few Mediterranean Gulls, and this time all adults.

This one was particularly keen to show off its all-white wings.

Also on the beach was a handful of Sandwich Terns from the local colony, but considerably fewer than last year.

However, they had obviously been successful as there was also a couple of chicks with them. Just look at those markings on the wings.

And there is also time to grab a couple of flight shots.

I don't recall seeing so many Ringed Plovers on this beach at this time of year before. Difficult to count as we walked along the beach but definitely well over 50.

They too had obviously been successful as they included many flying youngsters as well as a few fluff-balls.

You can always rely on Turnstones on this beach, but the benefit at this time of year is that they are still in summer plumage. How beautiful is that?

Rather amazingly there was just one Dunlin on the whole beach, but that too was in summer plumage. What stunning birds.

And of course there was a sizeable flock of about 50 Sanderling, also mostly in summer plumage. There were so many running around it was difficult to know which way to look first!!

And after all that feeding in salty water, time for a bath........in salty water.

The flock was quite mobile for whatever reason, certainly not due to any disturbance on the beach as we only saw one dog-walker all the time we were there.