After a fantastic morning at West Mersea, it was time to see what was going on at East Mersea. The floods held the usual hundreds of waders at the high tide roost, these being mainly Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and a couple of Snipe in the right-hand foreground.
But at that point one of those invisible birds of prey sped through causing total panic amongst the waders which rose in a cloud to confuse the enemy. As can be seen by the white wing-bars, these are all Black-tailed Godwits.
Further along the sea wall was a magnificent adult Little Egret with a fantastic plume. Unfortunately, I think that this bird should have gone to Specsavers, as after a while staring into the water, it managed to catch a twig!!
Then finally on to my favourite spot at East Mersea, Mersea Stone. The beauty of this area is that you never know what you are going to find, indeed sometimes nothing, but over the years I have had 1000s of waders in the bay, Red-breasted Merganser and seals quite close by, Rock Pipits and Snow Buntings. So what was on the agenda for today? As I appeared over the shingle ridge there, feeding on the waterline was a flock of 10 Sanderling.
My sudden appearance caused then to scuttle further along the beach before recommencing their frantic feeding. The secret here is not to pursue them and just stand still and within minutes they will be running around within eight yards of you. What magical little birds.
Well, what a super day on both West and East Mersea. Now time to go home and lay down in a dark room for a couple of hours to recover.
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