I'd seen photos of the Wood Sandpiper at Black Hole Marsh in Seaton, & as it looked so nice & I've never seen one in the UK, I drove over to the Axe yesterday to see if it was still there. I bumped into one of the ladies from the DBWPS in the car park, so we set off together in search of the wader. It didn't take long. At the start of the walkway up to the Island Hide we looked through the screen & there it was! Great! There was also a Common Sandpiper & a Green Sandpiper, although that was too far off for a photo.
 |
| Wood Sandpiper |
 |
| Common Sandpiper |
Whilst watching the sandpipers from the Island Hide, a horrible screaming suddenly started from just outside the hide on the ramp. It turned out to be a battle to the death between a young rabbit & a stoat. It was pretty horrible, but I guess that's nature. The worst thing was that the stoat then ran off & left the rabbit's body behind, although I don't know if it went back for it later.
 |
| Stoat v bunny |
 |
| The Island Hide, the rabbit & stoat had run a long way up the ramp |
There were quite a few gulls on the Axe & as there have been a few juvenile Yellow Legged Gulls about, I did have a look. However, I know that probably the only way I'll recognise one is if it taps me on the shoulder & introduces itself, so I didn't spend too much time there.
I paid a quick visit to Seaton Marsh as well, a bit further downstream, although there wasn't too much activity there apart from loads of Redshanks on the estuary mud & the trams.
 |
| No wonder they look bored, not a pair of bins in sight! |
Year List now on 198 + 2 sub-species
No comments:
Post a Comment