A Trip To The Seaside.

I hadn't been out and about with the camera as duties at home ( mainly gardening ) had kept me busy for the past week or so. This week I was determined to make the effort and get out there. I had decided on a visit to the Lancashire Coast at Southport as some high tides would mean that it could be good for wader watching as they would be pushed off their feeding grounds out on the Ribble Estuary. This proved to be the case and a couple of afternoon sessions found me waiting for their arrival as the tide rolled in.
There had been some heavy showers but these made way for sunny weather as the afternoons progressed and this of course provided excellent conditions for photography. I found a few small roosts of mainly dunlin and sanderling and a careful approach allowed me to get within forty to fifty yards . I enjoyed myself as there were plenty of birds to photograph and various plumages could be seen as many of the birds were juveniles returning from Arctic breeding grounds and feeding up before heading further south. Eventually most of the waders flew back out towards the fast retreating sea to resume their feeding out on the sands and mud of the estuary. I look forward to my next encounter with these delightful little birds when the next series of high tides brings them within range of the camera lens. The images show a fly past of dunlin and ringed plover and a couple each of sanderling and dunlin, the dunlin showing juvenile and adult plumages.