Monday 20 October 2008

The sea was beautiful, but almost birdless

After the arrival of a juvenile Little Blue Heron in Ireland (the juveniles are white) a couple of weeks ago, I expect that every birder is at least giving Little Egrets a second glance.

It wasn't so long ago the Little Egrets were celebrity visitors in their own right. They are now common place, but watching their animated feeding in the rock pools is still worthwhile.

I could see what this one caught, I suspect it was a small crustacean, I never seem to see many fish in the pools on this beach.
As the wind got up the sea was looking quite choppy and it seemed like a good idea to spend some time sea watching, after all there were still some interesting birds being seen over the "other side" (that's France, I'm not into the super natural). I have to say that the time we spent looking down telescopes today was probably the least productive sea watch on record. So much for instinct.


From down here on the beach "White Cliffs" the house looks even more vulnerable with the sea in front an those very big white cliffs behind.

I couldn't resist checking if the Snow Bunting was still at the usual place. When I parked and looked out of the window it was only a few yards from me, sifting through the grass seeds on the seed heads by the road. When I went to Spitsbergen I took some pictures of one in summer plumage, they can be found here.

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