Having had the all clear to carry on with normal activities after my first pacemaker check I was keen to get out with the big lens for some bird photography. I decided on a trip to the saltmarsh and beach near Cleethorpes because it was local and I knew that there were snow buntings about. I had already had one bird watching trip which had been unsuccessful. I started from the car park at Buck Beck and headed straight out over the marsh managing to get one or two shots of the usual flighty redshank, the sentinel of the marsh. Once through the marsh and mudflats I crossed the outer dunes onto the beach. The tide had gone out further than I though, but I was able to get reasonably close to some oystercatchers to get some images. Continuing on I walked to the end of the dunes and disturbed a flock of small birds which took off and flew a couple of hundred yards towards Cleethorpes. I could see in the bins that they were snow bunting; a small flock of 5 that looked to be first winter juveniles. Wonderful. I set off in pursuit and with some patient and careful stalking managed to get close enough for photography. I was delighted and sat back for a while to enjoy being way out on the beach on my own with, for a short while, the world to myself. I always take pleasure in looking out over the estuary; spurn point and the lighthouse looked stunning in the beautiful light and I enjoyed watching the shipping moving in and out of the estuary and saw a small group of shelduck flying upriver. I began to make my way back behind the dunes across the marsh and was pleased with some more redshank shots and managed to get reasonably close to a little egret, usually an extremely wary bird. Making my back through the old dunes I came across a couple of crows, one of which perched nicely on an old fence post. It's not often I get a good crow shot.
An excellent morning.
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