Purple patch

A spare couple of hours saw us head out for a bit of relaxing and, of course, some birding. Purple Sandpiper is a superb bird to watch clinging onto the rocks where the sea meets the land. With the tide in they do a bit of foraging around the rock pools.

Back inland to Killingworth Lake for more waterbirds...plenty of Coot...

...Jackdaws picking at the scraps...

...and a couple of Magpies playing in the park.

Pochard is a duck that is not that easy to find these days but there always a few on the lake.

Tufted Duck - well named.

The Moorhens are used to people wandering past so it's a good opportunity to get a close up shot.

There were a couple of Little Grebe resting beside the ducks...

...and a bit of a flap for good measure.

These bird are well fed so it was funny to see this one desperate to get a tasty morsel off the ground. The bird was ringed on 27th November 2013 as a juvenile - I doubt it will stray far.