Very occasionally, the conditions are near perfect for a high tide watch at Snettisham RSPB reserve.
A tide of 7 metres plus
The time - 10.10 high tide
Weather - warm with little wind and reasonable light without bright sunshine - facing into the sun from the hides so always backlighting
A week day - which cuts down on the crowds
No RSPB outings
We were parked up soon after 8.15, in time to see the mass of waders collecting on the mudflats before flighting in overhead to the tenements of the pits' mud islands.
Nothing rare, thousands of Knot, Dunlin, Oystercatchers, Redshank, both Godwits, a few Curlew, 30+ Great Ringed Plovers, a group of 1st year Turnstone, 10+ Little Egrets, and Spoonbill. The Shelduck, Mallard, Wigeon Teal and Gulls stayed on the sea, I wish the honking, squabbling, Greylag had done so.
Lack of mobility meant watching from the first hide - both outside, scoping from the car and, inside later on. Most of the intently marching birders walk as far as the second hide, which gives better and closer views of the roosting waders. This included two led groups this morning but no RSPB 'Birds and Breakfast' mobs.
Lack of mobility meant watching from the first hide - both outside, scoping from the car and, inside later on. Most of the intently marching birders walk as far as the second hide, which gives better and closer views of the roosting waders. This included two led groups this morning but no RSPB 'Birds and Breakfast' mobs.
A couple joined us in the hide, he sporting a very bad limp. I called Red Kite to Pam which prompted him to ask for directions. Home from home, he said, he's from the Chilterns. He then expressed his pleasure at being able to drive down as, on his previous visit over twenty years ago, he'd had permission to drive on the Sandringham estate with 'his and her' hides, giving views from the opposite bank from us.
We sat for some time, watching the birds constant shuffle for room, the incoming ones seeming to land on backs but somehow finding space.
Occasional mass uprisings meant more space shuffling, some landing on a small Cormorant Island nearer to us.
The Egrets and larger waders massed the far shore. No wonder this counts as one of THE top spectacle experiences offered in the UK. Well worth the early morning departure - necessary even on a latish tide morning. Arriving around high tide would give one the pit spectacular but, obviously, not the preparation for it.
My photographs are not of the best, I always wish for better here. A 300mm lens and D70 does not have the number of pixels to enable a great enlargement nor the depth of field to do justice to the mass of birds in a large pit. I always use AV on a reasonable light day. My editing programme - probably my fault - messed up the ones I'd earmarked for the Blog. These will have to do........
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| Back-lit Common Terns |
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