Curlew

It's years and years since I saw a curlew. At least 15 as I know I haven't blipped one. There used to be a pair regularly in our area. This pair is from a tiny part of the bigger picture in Extras.

Today we are in Northumberland for a funeral on Thursday, and are staying in Amble. We wanted to see the wildlife in the area so we went along to the Wildlife Trust site at Hauxley.

It was a bit windy on the coast but at least it kept dry and the sun shone

We saw 24 species of birds, mostly waterfowl and the most exciting things were the flying flocks. I mean hundreds at a time! First there were Canada geese, then we thought a huge flock might be pink-footed geese. The we realised another flock were curlew. Wow! At least 50 of them! I've never seen curlew in these numbers. The next shot I took were oystercatchers. I didn't realise that at the time as they were hard to identify at the speed we were shooting. It was only when I got them on the laptop I saw the distinctive wing patterns but, another surprise, the were being followed by a flock of waders, maybe sanderlings.

What a day! Our hotel is very nice and the choice of evening meals is wonderful!