Christine's walking & birds blog

November godwits

A bright frosty morning called me out, and down at the flood I counted 30 golden plover, while two chiffchaffs were along the Roundmoor Ditch. Bushes near the weir held two song thrushes, at least twenty reed buntings, and a female blackcap. Three buzzards were up over the sewage farm.

I walked back slowly along the river, and a chorus of fluty calls alerted me to golden plover flying downstream - at least 70. Two black-tailed godwits were near the tiny island on East Marsh, and just about everything conspired to prevent me getting a decent record shot. I have an ongoing moan about the screens and their complete uselessness to someone of my height, but now the "windows" are overgrown with brambles and reeds anyway. Walking up the path towards the higher information boards, by the time I got far enough up to clear the tops of the bushes, the sun was in the wrong place and I could only manage silhouettes.

The gulls and lapwings went up and only one godwit came down; the other landed on Plover Island. I made my way back to the main-path hide and managed to get a better shot by dint of bending awkwardly down to lean on the lower window and then shakily aiming the lens between a large bramble stem and a swaying reed. The godwit is stalking about because of aggro from gulls and lapwings.

I got very cold waiting for the godwits to wake up (they spent at least an hour sleeping). They were still there, still napping, both back on the small island, when I left just after 11 o'clock.