Having a paddle

The usual array of waders were seen outside the shop with Golden Plover, Knot and Greenshank being the picks. A large lump was spotted on the shore and on closer inspection it turned out to be a young WT Eagle having a paddle.

When the eagle eventually took off it caused a bit of a stir. Lots of gulls and quite a few Grey Heron. A particularly tatty looking heron flew overhead...

...as the eagle dominated the sky.

A Buzzard that was hunting the roadside didn't seem too worried about the grass dangling from the talons but he did have a glance at me!

Golden Eagle was a bit of a struggle with nothing to show from our first effort but a change of location gave us a view of three very distant birds. A bit of a wait and one of the birds had come close enough for a decent view. A couple of Adder, Mountain Hare and a few Dunlin finished the day off nicely.

Sticking your neck out

Another pleasant run out started off quietly with a few of the common birds with Common Whitethroat, Golden Plover, Greenshank and plenty of Stonechat being the highlights.

A look for Otter was interrupted by a close view of an adult WT Eagle flying past.

While we watched it soaring away two Golden Eagle put in an appearance. They all managed to do all their circling right in front of the sun!

Only a mile or so down the road and we clapped eyes on another three WT Eagle. They were a bit distant but when they started interacting it became a lot more interesting. Quite a bit of touching talons went on and you can see how far they can stick their neck out!

You could also see that they were sub adult birds with similar wing moult going on.

A Slow Worm was a good find on the day. There were plenty of Swallows still to be seen, Linnets are gathering into flocks...

...plenty of Skylark...

...and the Adders are still showing but it looks like they may be thinking about hibernation soon.

We managed to catch up with a couple of Hen Harriers and when we thought one of them was sitting on a post we all jumped out to find it was a Buzzard. You win some, you lose some!

Jumpy

With the migrant birds disappearing fast and just the odd bird dropping in, the local birds are always going to get more attention. A pair of Hooded Crow hang around the garden but they are still quite jumpy as a rule but this one was happy to stay put on a miserable day.

A trio of Bullfinch were seen feeding at the side of the road but the distance and dull conditions prevented any decent shots. I presume that the right hand bird will be a female as the male plumage is just starting to show on the left hand bird.

Talking of birds dropping in...a couple of Knot did hang around for a few days. They were not jumpy at all.

It seems like you can't go far without seeing an eagle over the ridge at the moment. A WT Eagle cruised along this ridge while a pair of Golden Eagle appeared to be hunting just below.

This long billed bird looked a bit like a Curlew Sandpiper from a distance but when I got a bit closer it was clearly a Dunlin. My, how it laughed!

I'm starting to see quite a few Grey Wagtails around now.

A Golden Eagle flew across the road quite low and it was interesting to see there was quite a bit of white in the tail. It was more noticeable on the top of the tail but a nice sighting all the same.