Thursday 15 December 2011

Afternoon in the Bay

After the away-day I decided a local day was called for. I put up a couple of new feeders full of delicious fat balls and refilled the seed feeders. There does seem to have been a small increase in the number of finches around, and with some poor weather on the way they might be needed.

After luch I went t the Bay. There have been so few birds around in the hedges and fields round here for the last couple of weeks, the sea seemed the best bet. Despite the fact that the bay looked at it's best at high tide there were few birds out in the bay. A few Guillemots flew by distantly, but I failed to find any divers or grebes off shore.
The sea here calms down very quickly after a blow, and although there was a slight swell the only indication of the rough seas we've had over the last few days was the covering of pebbles on the paths just inside the railings. As we approach the winter solstice the sun dips behind the headland quite early in the afternoon and very soon the chill air begins to creep through even the warmest jacket.

Although I've not seen as many Rock Pipits around this year as in past years there were six together at the north end of the car park.

This is certainly one species that appreciates the appalling quality of the work done on the car park, as they feed round the edges of the many puddles, or small ponds accidentally designed into the structure.

Of course there were gulls, but only the usual two came to see me, in the hope that they might be fed.

I did check on all the legs I could see, but so far this year I haven't found any ringed birds. This Herring Gull has almost lost all of it's winter streaks and is looking quite spick-and-span.

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