High Tide

Saturday 1st - Sunday 2nd February 2014
The Dumbles at High Tide, Saturday
The high tides this weekend produced some impressive scenes. At WWT Slimbridge on Saturday morning's tide, the Dumbles was completely covered, with the water rising to just a few feet below the sea wall. Two Roe Deer were swimming in the river and another ran in front of the Holden Tower and later back again, with a dog (what's wrong with some people!) in pursuit. The Tack Piece hosted thousands of birds, the highlights being a Greenland White-fronted Goose with c180 Russian White-fronts (later joined by c80 more), three large pale Greylags which looked like migrant birds, five Ruff and three GCP Cranes. The Brent Goose was on the river with the Canadas at high tide; the best birds were two Little Stints which showed well after the tide had dropped on the near edge of the Holden scrape. I also enjoyed watching several Bank Voles scurrying about from Willow Hide.
Looking straight out from Holden Tower at high tide
Another view, this one shortly after high tide, looking north
Greenland White-fronted Goose, Tack Piece
Roe Deer in the river
Little Stint just over the sea wall
Birds start coming in to feed on the freshly exposed Dumbles on the receding tide
The edge of the river eventually became visible as the tide fell
Bank Vole
Great Crane Project Crane from Martin Smith hide
Roe Deer running along the sea wall in front of Holden Tower, after swimming across the Knott Pool

Sunday's tide following the bore flooded the road at Stonebench, and the water crossed the road from the fields in several other places. The tide backed up Dimore Brook too, over-topping its banks alongside the playing field.
The river running down the lane, a hasty retreat was required
Dimore Brook late morning

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gran Canaria

Image
Saturday 1st - Saturday 8th October 2016 Hoopoe - Maspalomas A week in the hot sunshine of Gran Canaria at the start of October produced some good birds despite this island not getting much representation in the available range of published bird guides. This isn't surprising since it doesn't hold any populations of the endemic Canary pigeon species which can be found on Tenerife and La Gomera, and Blue Chaffich is much easier to find on Tenerife; next to impossible on Gran Canaria.  Based in Maspalomas at the southern tip of the island, my birding was incidental, or confined to the occasional short solo exploration on foot, in between simply being on holiday. A brackish lagoon, La Charca, stretches behind the beach at Maspalomas, cut off the sea by the beach, and with the dunes along one side. La Charca was always interesting to visit and turned up some good birds. The highlights included (no particular order): Canary Island Chiffchaff - common and vocal virtually ever
Read more

Cotswold Orchids and a Garden Hobby

Image
Monday 7th - Tuesday 15th May 2018 Sword-leaved Helleborine, Cephalanthera longifolia Recently I have caught up with Fly Orchids and Sword-leaved Helleborines in the Cotswolds, the latter being a threatened and particularly scarce species in the UK. I have only previously seen Sword-leaved Helleborine, also known as Narrow-leaved Helleborine, in Switzerland, where it more common. Fly Orchid, a close relative of the Bee Orchid, are more widespread but with a localised distribution and not one I have seen before. Both are exquisitely beautiful and very special plants. Fly Orchid, Ophrys insectifera       On 7th I had a Hobby fly over the garden and managed a couple of hurried record shots of this garden tick. A Coal Tit was a surprise garden visitor on 15th as I haven't seen one in the garden since the early spring. Flyover garden Hobby, 7th May Coal Tit, garden, 15th May
Read more

Todd's Canada Goose

Image
Saturday 16th January 2010 The Canada Goose showing characteristics of the race Branta canadensis interior , commonly known as Todd's Canada Goose , was in the Rushy Pen at Slimbridge WWT this morning (photos in poor light above and below) , before flying off with other Canada's at 9:40am. This is a very interesting bird, showing several features which together set it apart from its feral counterparts. My observations of the differences are: it is slightly smaller with a more slender neck; shorter bill; narrower white cheek patch; the black on the chin is linked to the black of the neck; at the bottom of the neck at the back, the black joins the brown of the mantle, with no white in between; the pale fringing on the scapulars etc. is much less distinct; the tertials are more contrastingly paler, giving the effect of a pale wing panel; it has a pale eye-ring; and if these features don't help - it has a limp! Other sightings this morning included: Sharpness Docks A female/imm
Read more