At Cresswell hide I was greeted by a lovely bunch of Lapwings all resting on the sand banks, It was cold and windy and I was pleased the hide was relatively warm. The picture isn't very good but I did spot some strange birds amongst the Lapwings which left me in two minds as to what they were. In the picture there are 3 birds which I believe to be Knots but as I haven't seen a Knot I could be wrong. I came to the conclusion due to the fact that they had a red tinge and Knots have a red chest in summer. Another thought was Sanderlings but I'm just guessing really. So my uneducated guess is Knot. Of course I could be totally wrong.... as usual any comments welcome.
Other birds on show was Mallard, Goosander (Mike tried to point a couple out but I didn't see them) Curlew, Teal (yippee) Redshank Little Grebe, Moorhen and over 300 geese flew over. A Cormorant was fishing quite close to the hide. On the way to the hide a couple of Goldfinches sang in the trees lining the path which was lovely.
I tried to get a nice shot of a female Stonechat which was perched on the field wall but I didn't manage to get a clear shot. Mike took the reigns and got some cracking photo's. What got me with this little chap is the pale eyebrow and the white under the chin (picture 2). I have seen these birds with the pale streak on the neck before but not so distinct. I think it is a Stonechat neverless due to the peachy orange chest.
We popped down to the beach which was freezing and I have decided to hunt out my woolly hat and thermal gloves, not much on show as there was too many people fishing and walking dogs but a nice flock of Ringed Plovers flew over and
Gulls and Eider Ducks were on the rocks. A lone Pied Wagtail was spotted on the way back to the car. A fab afternoon rounded off with a hot cup of tea. Delightful.
