Cliffe-hanger

Rob finally made it to Cliffe Pools RSPB for a brief post-work visit on Saturday, and reported that he'd seen 'nothing much'. Given the state of the tides when he went I wasn't completely surprised, but I had a rootle through his memory card and found a few items of interest.

First up, this Little Egret. Going by the sequence of photos, it flew briskly up to him then struck a series of bizarre mid-air poses for him as it went by. Rather like my little niece when she spots someone with a camera (apart from the mid-air part).

A flock of waders, which Rob photographed 'because they were there', not realising he was bagging a new species for the blog. They're Greenshanks, IDable by the solid dark wings, pale heads and bodies, and rather heavy-looking, medium-length and slightly upturned dark bills among other things.

And a flock of roosting waders, which I checked eagerly for anything that wasn't a Redshank or a Lapwing (or indeed a Coot) to no avail. Lovely evening light on them though. Imagine if it was high tide and there were another 1,000 waders of 30 different species in this photo...

The light had almost gone by this point, but just enough remained to furnish this Lapwing with some gold highlights.

I hope Rob can be persuaded to return to Cliffe another day when there's a high tide to push the waders off the river and onto the pools, but the days are rapidly getting shorter...

We have booked our tickets for the 'Skua and Shearwater Cruise' this coming Sunday. I should have finished the current book by then (the writing part at least) so it should be an up-cheering experience all round.