Wednesday, February 15, 2017
A beautiful day drew us over to the east coast. At Udale Bay the rising tide brought hundreds of waders and ducks close in to the lay-by. Among the wigeon was one which looked a little different, with a whiter "blaze" - and I wondered if it was the American wigeon that has been reported here several times. But it was still a long way out, and not easy to see well in the glare. We hadn't seen it before, so watched with interest as it approached.
It came right in to the farther grassy spit which was still above water - and promptly vanished!
Several times the waders went up and zoomed around in tight but fluid huddles - the culprit being a sparrowhawk. I was quite pleased when it flew off along the shoreline, as there was a pair of stonechats in the field with the rams.
After a while the birds all went up again, and this time even the gulls deigned to lift off the water. It was a buzzard, swooping in rather like a peregrine but then levelling off and disappearing harmlessly in the distance.
// posted by Christine @ 12:26 PM 
