Dunwich Beach

I had a nice surprise yesterday morning whilst standing at the sink (as I do quite a lot now) when a smart male Brambling dropped out of the tree onto my feeders making only the second garden sighting in over thirty years. I grabbed a poor image through the kitchen window to share later with Suzanne before the other resident birds spooked it but it did make bird 42 on day 3 the LD2 list.

I then looked at the weather forecast which predicted a cracking day on the east coast and then saw news that the Greater Yellowlegs was still present at Dunwich so I wrestled with my conscience for a while and eventually decided I'd go take a look at it provided it wasn't too crowded.  I arrived mid morning and walked the mile north from the car park finding just a handful of like minded people already watching the bird. I stood well back respecting my space and theirs but still enjoyed great views of the bird. I had a small group of Snow Bunting drop in close to where I stood and a Great Egret flew over the reeds and out of view. 

The massive gathering at the Greater Yellowlegs in Dunwich

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

The Alaskan Eastern Yellow Wagtail had also been reported so I walked on and was lucky to find that feeding along the shoreline a few hundred metres away. The Juvenile bird that is thought to be an Eastern Yellow was also present but a bit more flighty.

Presumed adult male Alaskan Eastern Yellow Wagtail 

Alaskan Wagtail

Alaskan Wagtail

The Wagtail twitch being a longer walk had a smaller crowd

Wagtail poo gathering, got to love the commitment

A very nice morning just watching these birds as due to the length of the walk involved other people were thin on the ground and the dog walkers that did make the effort pretty much strolled along the shore line well away from the pools which helped. 

Marsh Harrier over the Dunwich pools

Coming back through Epping Forest on the way home I was shocked at the amount of cars lining the streets on top of the full car parks and was quite pleased I'd opted for the far less busy beach of Dunwich to exercise my mind and soul (the legs and lungs got a decent workout too on that shingle).

I think the extra cars could relate to the LD2 rules where you can only meet one other person so two people taking a car each to meet and walk round the forest at least doubled the cars present only to find hundreds of people all doing the same. Think of it this way....for me to see my grandson I have to drive to a park meeting my grandson (who's not included in the one as he's too young) and my son I can't see his wife and can't take my wife so my wife might go meet her dad and my sons wife might go meet her dad so that's six people having three meetings in six cars and whilst this didn't happen for us I'm sure it did for other families across England all weekend which would explain all the traffic on the roads.

LD2 additions

Brambling, Greater Yellowlegs, Snow Bunting, Knot, Dunlin, Redshank, Great Egret, Marsh Harrier, Eastern Yellow Wagtails, Teal, Shoveler, Wigeon, Coot, Mute Swan, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Brent Goose, Greylag Goose, Red-legged Partridge, Gt Black-backed Gull and Common Gull.

LD2 list now 62

Year list now 269