Monday 29 April 2013

Hard to Swallow

A morning visit to St. Marys' south beach seemed in order with the hope of a sighting of the Blue-headed Wagtail. There was a strong westerly blowing so going down to the beach and tucked in behind the sandy cliffs was a good move. The Blue Wag was spotted almost immediately but was staying high so i wandered along towards the small boatyard. Pied and White Wagtails were noticeable all along and if not feeding on the increasing numbers of insects were calling. Initially i had Swallows and Sand Martins continually hunting back and forth but they were joined on odd occasions by a few House Martins. A cracking morning got even better when,  almost at the boatyard first i had a single male Wheatear,  then a second appeared and then a third. Lots of interaction and conflict between the three for which i just pulled up a rock  and sat and enjoyed. The Hirundines continued to hawk all around me as i was fast disappearing in a cloud of flies.
I could see the Sand Martins were disappearing into their nesting holes further south along the beach so i took time out to enjoy their comings and goings and a Yellow Wagtail popped up while there. I came across the Blue-headed Wag again as i headed back which had gathered a small crowd by now but i had spent much more time watching the Wheatears than that. A small group of Swallows chilled close by the stairs on the way up to the prom. Nice.
Stunning sunning Swallows.
I had planned to take time out around the periphery of the wetland before going back to the car but the wind was wild by now. It was evident straight away that any birds would be sheltering deep in the undergrowth so just had a quick walk round. Nothing showed and virtually nothing on the wetland.
Managed after a bit of a wait to download an imageso here is one from last Thursday at Swallow Pond.
Swallow Blackcap


2 comments:

  1. The Swallow pic is great. I tried a download of a pic last night and it wouldn't work at all then 20mins later it worked OK !

    John

    ReplyDelete
  2. thank you for your kind comment, sir. my download took a minute or so before starting.

    ReplyDelete