That seals it

We are coming very late to this party. For a few years now I have been aware of the seal colonies on the East coast and how in the early Winter they can be good places to see seal pups. A lot of friends and acquaintances have been and come back with some great tales and photos. Now with a bit more time on our hands and a good weather forecast we decided to bite the bullet and go to one of the two prime locations - Horsey Gap in Norfolk. We set out in good time (5.15!) and got to the car park, north of Great Yarmouth, just after 7.30. There were already 5 or 6 cars there, parked up behind the dunes with lots of signs and noticeboards pointing us in the right direction. You could hear snorting and mewing noises from behind the dunes as we pulled on our warm clothes, sorted out the camera gear and set off.
I thought it was going to be a bit of a walk but it only took a couple of minutes to get up onto the top of the dunes. Looking down there were seals in both directions, and lots of them.

From the noticeboard we gathered that over 1400 pubs had been born this year. You could certainly see lots of them on the beach.

With the tide very high they were pushed up close to the dunes, meaning that the mothers were having to be aware of the larger males who were there in large numbers as well.

With a strong onshore wind the surf was being whipped up creating almost a bubble-bath effect for the seals as they moved about on the edge of the waves. Even the very young seals were confident, albeit only in a couple of feet of water!

When they weren't messing about in that playful-young-animal way the pups spent a lot of time near their mothers, either for protection and reassurance or to suckle and feed. They can put on 2kg a day apparently on the rich milk.

The only ting about Horsey which could be a bit annoying is that you are on the top of the dunes looking down on the seals. Great panoramic views of the scene on the beach but not so good for photos which are, generally, better when you on the same level as the subject. So, we were very pleased and somewhat surprised when we came round a corner on the path and came across a photographer lying down. On the path in front of him was a mother seal with a pup, only an hour or so old and still quite damp.

You see both a bit of the afterbirth and its umbilical cord still attached. Initially it had a bit of a confused expression on its face as it came to terms with being outside of the warmth of its mother and into a brisk East coast day. The mother had been quite clever though and the path, although used by people, who now gave it a wide birth, was sheltered both from the wind and the other seals. The pup gradually dried out and took on a lovely silky sheen to its coat. It also became much more animated and rolled around though never leaving its mothers side by more than a few feet.

At the risk of going a bit anthropomorphic, the mother did seem to have a proud expression on her face. She was pretty relaxed as we kept a respectful distance, and only got agitated once when another group came up from the other side of the path and blocked her in. We all moved back and she quickly relaxed again.
The other main interest, but on the beach, was the males, who perhaps as the sand was getting less and less were being forced into close proximity to each other. This created quite a few stand-offs and even some rather vicious fights.

The mothers and pups had to make sure they didn't get caught up in the fights as the males are significantly larger than them!

We spent almost three hours I would guess on the beach, or rather in the dunes. You only get to see a small section of the whole colony, the rest stretched out in both directions away from us. It was a stunning day though in every sense and we will certainly go back, or perhaps try the other colony at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire.

Ducking about in the rain

This time of year you have to take your chances when you go out birding. You can get some nice, sharp days when it is a pleasure to be out. You can also get some days when it is difficult to even persuade yourself to get out of the car! That happened to me over the last two days. With Judith away I had two days to try and top up the year list. The weather forecast was iffy to say the least. The East coast looked better but all the birds I might need were in the southwest. Taking the maxim of "no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing" I loaded up the car and set off. It was a very early start with Judith on the first flight out of Heathrow so I was at my first stop, Chew Valley lake in Somerset,  by 6.45.
The target was an American duck - green-winged teal. They are regular visitors over here, in fact it is most likely that it is the same few individuals now semi-resident over here as the chance of them getting back to the USA is pretty low. With a lot of the Summer in the eclipse they can easily disappear. This is particularly easy for green-winged teal as they only differ from our Eurasian teal in having a vertical white-stripe on the shoulder. As the light slowly came up I could see lots of ducks waking up on the far side of the lake. About 30 of them were teal, marked out by their small size. Even through the 'scope they were difficult to see and it took me 20 minutes to finally find a bird with a bright white line on it. Well, a white smudge seen dimly in the gloom!

Cropping in massively you can just about make out the white line on the duck just to the left of the centre of the photo above. As I still had two more targets I didn't hang on but packed up the gear and headed off to the south Devon coast for two more ducks. The first was a close cousin, a blue-winged teal at a new reserve for me, Man Sands, near Torquay. By the time I got there the rain was starting. The reserve was a short walk down to two pool behind a beach. To cut a long story short I spent half an hour getting soaking wet staring form various angles at reeds and marshy pools. I got two brief views of the blue-winged teal as it came out on the pools from the herbage. I didn't even get my camera out of the bag! Two year ticks in the bag before lunch time so not a bad day so far.
My last stop broke that trend as I went to Broadsands beach about 5 miles away for a surf scoter. Basically it was stair-rodding it down and I was trying to find one duck out in the far distance in the bay. I gave it a good try but it was never going to happen to I called it a day and headed off to Weymouth to stay the night with my mother-in-law.
The next day the weather forecast wasn't any better but I was still on the road by 5.45 heading to Hampshire. The target here was a wader, a semi-palmated sandpiper which had been there for a few days on the Pennington Marshes complex, specifically Oxey Marsh. These lakes are on the coast opposite the Isle of Wight and are a magnet for waders of all sorts. By 7 I was nearby but the weather was foul. There had been a few flashes of lightning and the rain was bouncing off the pavement. I considered calling it a day and going home but eventually the clouds broke a bit so I gave it a go. Fortunately as I got there two cars were leaving the very small car park, saving me the alternative of a 5 mile round trip walk from the further car park. I pulled on my wet weather gear and set off on the 15 minute walk to where the bird was hanging out. It wasn't actually raining but it was blowing a hoolie and with heavy cloud the light was pants.
Semi-palmated sandpipers are another Yankee bird, rare but not megas and I have seen 3 before in the UK. I got to the pool and it looked good, there were  a lot of other waders pottering around and ducks and geese were flying around on the marsh behind it.
I quite quickly got onto two small waders at the back of the pool, one clearly a dunlin but the other smaller and neater - the semi-p

Despite the wind and occasional showers of rain the two of them kept feeding away on the mud.

The semi-p is so called because of webbing on its toes, which you unfortunately can't see here. It is a smallish wader with a stout bill, clean white-belly, nice scapulations on its back and a rakish pattern on its head, especially from head on.

You get an idea of its size in comparison here to a common redshank. This was joined on the pool by a rather smart greenshank, black-tailed godwit and spotted redshanks.

As the semi-p was showing no signs of coming over to my side of the pool I started off back to the car for a reviving coffee. On the way I was stopped by this pair blocking the path

and the ducks kept me company in the pools as I walked along

As I was having my coffee I realised that the field behind the car park held a large flock of godwits, oystercatchers and brent geese. In better light I might have been tempted to set up camp with them but I grapple a few shots before heading home.

Not a bad two days. Three year-ticks, taking me to 271 and only 5 behind my best ever total. I think my coat and boots will dry out overnight so no harm done. 5 weeks to go and 5 ticks needed, might be tight.