Christine's walking & birds blog

A glaucous gull (I think) was lounging around on the spit with other large gulls, miles away across half a beach and the river. Its plumage is interesting at the moment, shifting from one stage to the next.


A goosander flew over, then round in a circle, and finally settled on the water at the mouth of the river to do some fishing before hauling out onto a rock and preening. I think it's a male in eclipse plumage.


Although I heard a dunlin and then a curlew call, I couldn't get onto them before the rain started falling. As I left the river spit, I heard a sort of buzzing from the bushes and then saw a whitethroat carrying food. Whitethroats were here last year in late summer, and the year before in spring - but I wasn't sure if they were just passing through. Proof of breeding at last.