The light was dire, the weather apalling but amongst other good birds, the drake Garganey was astill present - went almost unnoticed today!
The resident male Shelduck has serious 'anger management' issues and whilst it spends most hours of the day chasing almost everything, the Garganey seems to be the 'little guy' he picks on!
A moment for a breather in front of me!
Whoops here he comes again!!
Shutter speed in short supply but hey that wind blur looks dynamic - this is ART!
Back to the waders next.....
Easterly winds, low cloud and drizzle - the omens which looked good at least produced some excitement! Firstly in the form of a Sanderling :-)
Settled at first and busily feeding up as they do.....
Another dash across the mud....
Constantly being moved about by the territorial Little Ringed Plovers!
Will I be safe on the nearest island?
For a moment anyway!
This was the pick of the waders but there's more to come.....
A Redshank had been downed by the rain and present all morning. With so many other things (birds) going on, I eventually caught up with it from the North hide.....
It wasn't doing much!
But eventually ventured into deeper water.....
Striding around the margins....
Eventually giving a nice show of those smart legs!
Caught in mid stride....
What else is showing well today?
It was all happening today, it was almost as if the Sanderling got kicked into touch as my attention turned to the single Common Tern which had been present since arrival!
You can't have it all and good Tern days are invariably dank and drizzly....
But watching Terns jink and jive as they catch insects in flight is magic (especially when you never quite know if you'll see them here from one year to the next!)
And before long, I realised there was company arriving!
Three more Common Terns......
Imagine my excitement when after another 30 minutes, it literally rained a new flock of newcomers!
I couldn't get them all in the frame but repeated counts revealed the new (much larger) group numbered 22 more Common Terns
Not enough room on this bit of prime Tern real estate!
And occasionally they would land and spread out on the main island.....
Occasionally flying in and out....
One Tern (probably the original one for the day) kept flying but we were now witnessing the amazing sight of 25 Terns on the deck.
All good things have to come to an end of course and something triggered (I don't think it was the Coots) their eventual departure after 90 minutes or so?
There they were (well, most of them) gone but not forgotten!!
A record count for the reserve - by a mile!!
