Friday 29 April 2016

Bowling Green Marsh - Whimbrel etc.

A talk in Somerset gave me the incentive for a couple of days birding in Devon. With no real rarities to chase, I opted for a start at Bowling Green Marsh. Despite a breeding bird survey in progress there were still plenty of birds on offer, starting with an Arctic Tern briefly over followed by this very smart 2nd Summer Yellow-legged Gull. 



It only touched down for a minute or so and 'camera back' verdicts pointed (for me) to Yellow-legged Gull. The head shape in this second pic had one or two folk considering Caspian gull but the bill and those 'oh so short' legs don't support this.


And almost immediately, there it was, gone!



Wader numbers seemed down due to the disturbance but there were still a few Bar-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Whimbrel, Curlew plus a lone Knot




A dozen or so Black-tailed Godwits included one or two feeding much closer - the wet grass seemed to be offering up plenty of worms!




Wait a minute.... a Whimbrel getting in on the close up act!



This really obliging Whimbrel turned out to be the highlight of the session from a photographic perspective!




Lots of standard 'posed' shots from a variety of angles....










Constantly looking for any sign of worms down below!






Then probing vigorously!


Gotcha :-)


Down the hatch....


You can have too much of a good thing but the foot forward walking shot makes for a more dynamic feel if not exactly 'action'!


A proper little show-off but early afternoon, my phone altered me to a Hoopoe now refound at Lower Bruckland pools near Seaton. Worth a look methought?