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Monday 14 January 2008

Lovely Saturday at Sand Bay

After Friday's deluge, intermixed with snow for 2 hours, then back to rain and awful flooding everywhere, I thought a trip to Sand Bay on Saturday morning for my first stationary watch of 2008 would be all that was possible before the next rain band arrived.

And it was a reet smashing hour at my usual spot. I began doing this in November, 1 hour max, same spot on the beach spotting anything which comes into view across the bay, on the mud, or in the shrubs behind. The only down side to this is I miss the fields behind with the scope, and the rocks at the Weston end of the Bay is just too far away. But it's interesting how doing this a picture of what is happening is beginning to develop, and each day is different.

Not least as I'm becoming a bit of a local oddity and people now come and chat to me as they walk past, which is nice, unless their dogs eat my trousers, long story. A pair of walkers mentioned a white Buzzard at St Thomas's Head on the point, which was apt, as on Friday, a report of an Osprey, was descounted as a white Buzzard. There's a few about down here.

Shelduck and Dunlin

So between 10.30 and 11.30, here we go : 500+Dunlin, 40ish Grey Plover with them (cracking views of the black armpits in the sunshine), 10 Woodpigeon, 150-200 Shelduck, 50+ Oystercatcher, 25 Curlew, 2 Great Black Backed Gull, 31 Redshank (I know I counted them twice - which is sad), 3 Carion Crow, 2 Skylark overhead, 1 Wren, 2-30 Linnet, Male Stonechat, single male House Sparrow, 3 Starling, 5-7 Long Tail Tit working the shrubs, which I've not seen at Sand Bay before, female Reed Bunting, 2 Pied Wagtail, single Chaffinch heard, single Blue Tit, 50-70 Black Headed Gull, and 2 Magpie.

On the way home at the flooded field I'm keeping an eye on, 1 male Stonechat, 43 Curlew, 10-15 Pied Wagtail, 1 Skylark, 50+ Redwing/Fieldfare, 2 Jackdaw, 1 female Kestrel, 1 Buzzard, 1 Great Black Backed Gull, 10 Starling and a mix of Black Head and Common gulls.

Final treat, weasle ran in front of me. Given all the ditches were flooded, it maybe should have been swimming.

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