Couple of nice Brown Hares along the entrance track at Elmley were secretly tucked away behind tussocks of long grass - thankfully the thermal imager gave their presence away... Nice lot of smart Lapwings n the reserve - plus Black-t Godwit, Wigeon, Curlew, Little Owl, etc.
A brief visit to Elmley with the thermal yielded a fantastic Woodcock in the copse by the car park - just a few metres away and definitely one that I wouldn't have seen without the technology...
Similarly, the Little Owls were readily located in a Hawthorn tree near the greenhouse - nice!
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| Woodcock - brilliant to be able to photograph it on the deck in the daytime |
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| Little Owl - one of two present in the same copse |
This adult Common Buzzard was a surprise find in the mist net this morning - only the second one on John's rings!
Failed in my quest to photograph the immature Little Gull at Hampton Pier this morning - the morning was made up with photographable views of Purple Sand, Sanderling, Turnstone and Dunlin.
Max and I travelled up to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Donna Nook to witness the annual spectacle of thousands of Grey Seals up on the saltmarsh. The count the day before (2/12) yielded 2039 pups, 1498 cows and 497 bulls.
The location is extremely well organised - one-way traffic on the local road heading to enormous car park facilities, toilets, burger bar, info centre, Wardens, safety barriers (protecting seals and people!)...
The real delight of course, is the proximity to some of the animals - some pups, either still in their white new-born fur, or those that have already attained their grey pebble-dashed coats, are right up alongside the footpath barrier. Being just a couple of feet away from these animals is a great privilege.
A fantastic trip!
