Wildlife Plus Camera = Happy Place

 Saturday December 13

Another calm, sunny day after the rain. 

First stop was Selbrigg, with positive signs that the birds are being fed again - and not just by us. A short length of new fencing on the right of the entry gate, had been used as a deposit for seed. We added to it, one Blue Tit actually helped itself as Pam turned from the first post. I didn't see it again. But I did see and enjoy, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Robin and Coal Tit in the ten minutes we spent there.

 

For you P

Three Moorhens were fossicking below the gate near to the pond, Mute Swans and Mallard on the water. 

Our luck was in at Brancaster Staithe, the tide was an hour away from full, we could watch it slowly covering the mud, small groups of birds adjusting to the mud made available to them by the changing water level. Black-tailed Godwits, Teal, Curlew and Turnstone fed near the car park.

 

Four Grey Plover, Wigeon, a few Dunlin, Redshank, and a solitary Little Egret, chose the far golf club bank. 

Retreating to the mound for lunch, our entertainment was a lone Paddle Boarder, two Kayakers returning from their paddle, disembarking in front of us and packing away all their gear. The man did most of that, the woman's feet looked blue, why wasn't she wearing any covering? An older lady, clad in a complete dry suit, wit ha large sausage shaped, pink buoy attached to her back, made her way gingerly down the water's edge, before going for a swim. She wasn't in long.

No mussel fishermen around today, Oystercatchers hung about the usual sorting area having found where some shellfish had been dumped. With some squabbling, individuals would find a prize before running ashore with it, running the gauntlet of fellow waders and gulls.

Apart from the Great Egret at Holkham, that was the end of our birding day. The North Coast in winter is a gift.

Nearly forgot.....

As we left Bodham, an oncoming taxi flashed its lights. Was the road icy? It was cold enough and we'd had to de-ice the car. Around the corner came thirty cyclists, in single file, all dressed  as Father Christmas. They responded to Pam's thumbs up with cheers, waving, and sounding their bells. What fun.