Today I made another trip to the
Wirral to try and see waders brought close on the high Spring tide. A few images:
Starting off at
Hoylake I noted most birds flying off before getting very close. This lone Knot was an exception.
Note here it seems to have a growth in its throat. Perhaps it was unwell and why this normally gregarious bird was on its own.
Unwell indeed. Many Field Guides name this species as Red Knot to distinguish it from Great Knot, a South and East Asia species, very rarely seen as a vagrant to the UK. It is indeed red in breeding plumage. Most of the birds that winter in the UK have departed before they acquire this very different breeding plumage.
One more.
Supporting cast included many Shelduck. A fine drake here.
Most of the close birds were gulls. Here is part of a typical grouping. An adult Great Black-backed Gull towers over mainly immature Herring Gulls of various ages. The bottom left bird at the three at the top right are smaller Common Gulls. Note their slightly darker mantle (back) and greenish (rather than pink) legs.
A group take to the air. The smaller bird at the top right with the all dark tail is a first winter Common Gull. The others are immature Herring Gulls. [The white diagonal is part of a blade from one of the off-shore wind turbines.]
I then moved on to the always interesting RSPB Reserve at
Burton Mere. A difficult place to photograph birds as it faces SW and you are looking in to the light. Here are two of the recently returned Avocets (front). They breed on the reserve. The other two birds are Black-headed Gulls.
In an adjacent field there was a group of distant Curlews. Here are four. Some are showing a few darker back feathers as they moult in to breeding plumage.
And here are three in flight clearly showing their unmistakeable long decurved bills. The smaller Whimbrel also has a decurved bill with the curve less even and accentuated towards the tip.
