It was a dull and gloomy morning as I drove into Buck Beck car park at Cleethorpes. I had arranged to meet Nigel for an early bird watching walk. Not only was it gloomy, it was the first morning I could have done with gloves. Note to oneself, deply the gloves now winter has arrived. Once Nigel arrived we set out to follow a zigzag route to get us across the saltmarsh. In this way we could scour it for snow buntings but, although they have been seen, they did not grace us with their presence. Soon we walked out though the far dunes onto the beach. The tide was still well in and noting large numbers of waders on the tide line we made our way towards them and Buck Beck. The most noticeable were the oystercatchers as they were the largest but running around like tiny clockwork toys was a flock of around 30 sanderling. Lovely to see. A little further on we came across another large flock, this time about 60 ringed plovers. There a few dunlin and the occasional, larger knot. On the mud bank lining Buck Beck a few turnstone were roosting. Making our was back across the marsh we disturbed quite a few redshank which flew off piping loudly. There were a few curlew around, some providing fine views, their haunting calls echoing over the marsh. Little egrets were busy feeding in pools and creeks. In the distance, over Tetney Marsh we could see a large flock of brent geese and another of waders, probably knot, twisting and turning in formation above the marsh.
A raw morning but an excellent short session.
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