Pectoral sandpiper, yellow legged gull and a proud determined Mum

Black hole marsh was rather overcast and misty this morning but yesterdays pectoral sandpiper was still present and not quite so distant as yesterday

One of the 3 juvenile yellow legged gulls from yesterday on the river (thanks to Gavin)

and some of the 23 dunlin and 4 ring plovers that were a reasonable distance from the island hide this morning

A pair of goldfinches landed briefly in front of me 

and on leaving the hide I met these on their way up the walkway

A little encouragement got them out only for Mum to rush back up the walkway again

Eventually with a bit more gentle persuasion she and her 10 ducklings managed to get behind the fence and over the bank onto Black hole marsh just before help (i.e. Doug) arrived to open the gate

One proud Mum

Now going back a bit here are a few pictures from the weekend.  This snipe was showing well close to the island hide

and the kingfisher did a flypast on the river

The juvenile med gull has still been on Black hole marsh

One of our oyster catcher adults with 2 of the young

and these crows were just posing for a photo

 and finally this pair of young rabbits rushed along the tram line to greet each other

More from BHM

This afternoon I was lucky enough to have a closer view of the partial summer plumage ruff as it was for a very brief moment in front of the island hide

There are still at least eight very active common sandpipers present on Black hole marsh

And finally this afternoon after trying for 3 evenings I managed some reasonable sandmartin pictures 

to go along with the housemartins

and swifts

and lastly mustn't forget some swallows

A couple of stars

Not to keen on the thunder at the moment so thought I'd actually do a post here on the relevant day instead of a few days after.  Out and about early this morning gave great views of this youngster so was well worth the effort.

This afternoon a trip to Black hole marsh revealed a partial summer plumage ruff which was rather fond of a common sandpiper though the feeling did not appear to be mutual

6 dunlin were close to the island hide together with 4 little ring plovers

The common sandpiper finally made its escape from the ruff

and finally a med gull was in the same pace as the last few afternoons

An Axe estuary assortment

Like many people the hot weather has kept me from doing too much of late but as it appears to be never ending I have decided to make the best of the cooler times of the day to get out and about.   There were still  plenty of redshanks to be seen on Black hole marsh today and plenty of black tailed godwits

together with shellducks of various ages

The were at least 7 common sandpipers

this little ring plover

a green sandpiper

and these 2 rather distant grenshanks

  
                 The oyster catchers look as though they are trying to lose their youngsters

and the linnets persistently refuse to perch any lower down than on the telegraph wires

On Seaton marshes earlier this week this young moorhen was one of 5 chicks

and finally this sparrowhawk is doing regular patrols above my garden