Piltanton Burn 23/viii/23

 

Mostly overcast, medium westerly, high tide 16.35.

I arrived about an hour before high tide and noticed that the creek was almost devoid of birds near the car-park. No doubt there had been recent dog-walking and this suspicion was confirmed when a greyhound appeared. As I headed downstream where there seemed to be more avian activity, a dozen or so Greenfinch flew up from the tideline, presumably the remnants of last week’s flock. Linnets were also feeding along the upper shore, primarily among the developing saltmarsh hummocks; I counted 32. A single Rock Pipit was noted, a much scarcer species here away from its usual rocky haunts. Whimbrels were present again: one feeding along the edge of the creek as the water level rose and a second out at the sea-ward edge of Luce Sands where 30 or so Curlew stood among the advancing waves. Rounding the corner to view the coast east, there was a high-tide roost of 180 Oystercatchers on the nearest spit with a small flock of Turnstone feeding among the pebbles. I counted 8 but there could have been more.

Out in the mouth of the main channel, a quartet of Red-breasted Merganser swam upstream. I have seen them do this before and wonder if the rising tide brings fish into shallower water where they are easier to catch. A Cormorant diving nearby would seem to support this theory. By now, there was a noticeable movement of waders upstream towards the roosting areas, so I headed back that way and found a dispersed flock of Ringed Plover, feeding and washing on the Torrs Warren side, estimated at 280. Four Knot were among them but surprisingly no Dunlin. Several Redshank and a single Greenshank were flighting about along the river’s edge, where eight Little Egret also gathered. The main gull roost seemed to be mostly Common, with a few Black-heads and Herring. A paltry eight Sandwich Terns among them was a far cry from the 70 seen at the end of July. Sixty or so Curlew were in evidence, split between the south bank roost and the north bank pasture field. From this latter location, a rasping call brought four flying Snipe to my attention. No sign of the Stonechats or Whitethroats this week in the gorse thickets. But there was a gathering of 14 Pied Wagtails at the flooded scrape by the entrance track as I left, where I keep hoping to see a sandpiper or a ruff maybe.

Comments

  1. Chris Baines17 September 2023 at 12:32

    I have often commented to my wife that flooded scrape should produce a good wader but it never does!

    ReplyDelete

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