Hunstanton Beach

Although cloudy from late morning when the RPS Nature Group met for a day photographing birds on Hunstanton Beach, the rain stayed away and we had a great time with a lot of birds to train our cameras on.

Birds at Hunstanton

Some shoreline birds from my visit on July 8th on a mostly overcast afternoon. I was trying to capture movement and flight as flocks of waders etc moved through when the tide receded and exposed the mussel-bed-feeding grounds. I also attempted to capture the Fulmars and Swifts that nest in the cliffs - not a great success rate!!

Snettisham Waders

Saturday's trip to watch the Wader flocks produced some great views of Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwits landing in the gravel pits as high tide approached. The beach murmurations were relatively small and the light direction resulted in a lot of haze so these are all taken from the hides around the pits. Mediterranean Gull joined the Black-headed Gulls (with youngster) and several Egyptian Geese and Avocets tried to claim a position.

Hunstanton Beach

This pair of Common Seal pups were left on the boulders at Hunstanton as the tide receded on Saturday afternoon. Although not distressed, I was worried about their safety with a lot of dogs and people on the beach so contacted the Seal Rescue unit and someone arrived to assess the situation. Being a very low tide, contact of the mother with the pups was particularly difficult. I don't know whether the pups were guarded in situ or transported off the beach to the recovery centre but hopefully all was well with them. Very dramatic lighting all afternoon and the heavy rain eventually arrived in the night.

Other Insects at Buxton Heath

Bit of a legs theme here (shed skin of grasshopper and Longhorn beetle leg-stretch routine). The Pied hoverfly was on my car door!! We tried to escape the very powerful sun and high temperatures on Sunday afternoon at Buxton Heath by keeping to the edge of the woodland where several Dragonflies were perching and hawking for prey - Keeled Skimmers (male and females) were commonest but also 4-Spot Chasers and Broad-bodied Chaser.