Saturday, January 3, 2015

2014 THE LAST POST

   The last day of the year dawned with the promise of a fine day so I embarked on a visit to a few coastal sites with expectations high and cameras fully charged. First stop of the day was RSPB North Warren where I was hopeful of seeing some of the winter geese there, and in that respect I did but unfortunately they were all distant and out of effective camera range. The geese included Canada, Barnacle, Greylag and Eurasion White-fronted, the latter of which has a population of about 150 birds on the reserve at the moment and is one of the major flocks of this species to be found in the winter. Luckily some birds did approach close enough for photography and these were the flock of 100 or so Black-tailed Godwits shown above and below.

   From here I moved up to Sizewell where I spent an hour or so walking along in front of the power stations but the wildlife was not really evident and the only photographic subjects were the Meadow Pipits which were flitting amongst the grasses and gorse on the sea front, the results of which can be seen below.

   Next was Dunwich Beach where the Stonechats were still around but getting close to them with all the people out walking over the holiday period was difficult. However I did discover a pair of Skylarks by nearly treading on them as I walked along the bottom of the sea wall, luckily for me they only flew 20 yards or so before landing again and I was able to approach quietly and get some acceptable images.

   The final stop of the day was at Blythborough as the sun was setting in time to see the waders and gulls coming in to roost for the night on the mudflats of the estuary. The light was going and the birds were at a distance so no pictures to show you but it was a nice way to finish the year.









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