My first trip to the Ythan Estuary this year, my main target was Little Terns, and the first tern I saw when I arrived around 7am, was a Little Tern. Despite the weather forecast saying it would be sunny, it wasn't and when there was some light I could only take photos into the light. It seemed that the Little Terns stopped feeding as the tide started to flood in, maybe they had caught enough fish and would return later, nope!
I stopped at Murcar Golf Links on my way home and was pleasantly surprised that the Scoter flock was directly offshore from the viewing point near the sand quarry, and not too far out on the high tide. Although there were small flocks dotted about, one large flock seemed to be all Common Scoter, but then I found a few Velvet Scoters, was one of the sleeping ones the reported White-winged Scoter? After about 15 minutes I picked it out, I could see the bill shape but it wasn't easy on a choppy sea and a 17 mph wind. I even thought I could see pink on the bill. Despite filming a few videos I couldn't get anything worth keeping due to the sea conditions and the camera being blown about by the side-on wind. I might go back to both sites when the conditions are better and the tide later in the day at the Ythan.
I've tried to post photos of the Little Terns showing their different identification points.
Little Tern, and more below!
The fish is a Stickleback
Arctic Tern
Common Tern
Sandwich Tern
Osprey
Sand Martin
Willow Warbler
Grey Seals, it looked like they were stalking me, some came within a few metres
Thrift, Olive says it's the flower which suits my nature, harsh I thought
No comments:
Post a Comment