A glorious morning, quite Mediterranean

A glorious sunny morning until lunch, then the SW wind then prevailing & clouding over. I arrived early at the GC end of the dunes, for the high tide roost & then later moved up to Gore Point.

Nice flocks of c700 Oystercatcher, also c700 Herring Gull, plus c200 Sanderling & c250 Bar-tailed Godwit. Offshore I found  2 Long-tailed Duck, c12 Goldeneye, 30 Great Crested Grebe flew south & another c25 on the sea. Around 30 Red-throated Diver offshore but mostly flying south.

Of note were c15 Eider & 3 Shag sat along the shoreline. Searching a profusion of gulls eventually paid dividends with a new year bird, smart adult Mediterranean Gull. 

I bumped into Sophe & we shared lovely views of the Short-eared Owl hunting in the forestry.

I finished off looking in the NWT hides, best numbers thus far of Gadwall, c30 out on the islands. Also c250 Lapwing, lots of Wigeon & Teal, nothing unusual amongst them.

On the way back the geese had increased to c700 Brents in the winter wheat field, but I couldn't find anything amongst them!