Large flocks of roosting waders greeted me this morning:
bar-tailed godwit, oystercatchers, curlew and redshank. Among these were smaller numbers of dunlin
and knot and on the edge of the water busily feeding were good numbers of
snipe, although sadly no sign of the jacksnipe or whimbrel of last night. A few heron stood as motionless sentinels as
they waited patiently for a food morsel to pass by.
Back for breakfast and then it was off down the coast. First
stop, Port Seton harbour, always a favourite spot. A real working fishing harbour on this
stretch of coast and often a good spot for eider taking shelter in stormy
weather. We moved on from here to
Longniddry Bents for some more birding.
Usually a good spot, this, and I have photographed curlew here at high
tide using the car as a hide. Today we enjoyed watching gannets plunge diving
off shore with oystercatchers, redshank, curlew and cormorants on the tideline.
At Aberlady we added shelduck, lapwing and knot to this
total but the plum species were the pinkfeet numbering in their thousands. There were also a small group of barnacle
geese. It was one of those spine
tingling moments to listen to their wild cries as they moved from shore to
feeding grounds inland and to imagine the vast distances they had flown from
their breeding grounds in Greenland and Iceland.
We had an excellent walk in the fantastic weather from the
carpark, over the footbridge and across the reserve to Gullane point via the
expanse of the wild and beautiful beach.
At the point were five red breasted mergansers and good numbers of eider
offshore as well as oystercatcher, turnstone, not and rock pipit on the rocks.
Yet another excellent day but sadly the weather is set to
change tomorrow; still Edinburgh and a day of galleries and coffee shops
calls!!
Beer o’clock!!
To view large, please click on an image.
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| Curlew |
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| Redshank |
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| Heron |
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| Heron |
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| Snipe |
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| Snipe |
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| Snipe |
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| Snipe |
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| Redshank |
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| Sea Glass |
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| Sea Glass |
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| Sea Glass |
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| Sea Glass |
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| Aberlady Bay |
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| Aberlady |
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| Aberlady |
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| Aberlady Bay |
