More Ketchup. Pt.2, The Good, The Bad, And The Psycho

As well as going South, I've also been North.

[Shock]

Best in show would be

Spot the shank

Excuse the Ruff

composition of 

this photo...

I'm not doing that

pun... Even I have

[some] limits!

Godwits facing off

When asked where all 

the Dunlin went...

Psycho said "Burp!"

Pochard, 2

Getting very rare

in Devon...

How many Snipe

can you see?

At least 25 of the stripey sneaks at Bowling Green, though only about 4 visible from the hide! 719 Blackwits were likewise countable, but a good 500 were hiding off on the left and refused to be counted; a load flew off as I legged it down the lane for that purpose*, the fiends...

Previously, I spent some leisurely time [I'd taken a brolly, so the frisky showers bothered me not ;) ] with lunch and a flask at Powderham Bend as the tide went down, before stopping at Cockwood on my way home. The Spoonbills were feeling unusually elusive, but some birds put on a show.

Avocets!

From Powderham Bend I counted 489 in 4 groups [mostly about the Clyst], here's part of one of them,

 

Avocets off Starcross yacht club

 

Also - if you wait they come to you - showing nicely when it was sunny,

 

Dunlin and Grey Plover

 

Yup, another one

Lapwing don't do mudflats

I counted 213 of them from the railway bridge. I didn't count the Brents or Oyks or Canadas also in those fields. I did count 2 Cattle Egrets among 9 Littles, but they all looked like white blobs in the photo..

From Cockwood Crossing, the female Scaup showed.  A bit closer.

Just a bit.

11 o'clock from the pink buoy,

 roughly on a line between the round

and Rolo-shaped yellow buoys.

She's facing left. Honest.

Scope views were great. Ish. Well, much better, anyway.

An assortment of RB Mergansers and GCGs were on the river from both sites, with the latter outnumbering the former by more than 2:1  [21 to 8, combined totals]

Behold Iced Gems roosting GCGs;

Grebe raft

Speaking of grebes, a Little was close off Cockwood Harbour, and a Black-necked out upstream of The Wreck. Neither felt showy, but a few waders were fairly close-to,

Keeping well away

from Psycho

As an Avocet came close,

so did the rain...

Be Seeing You...

[[* Ok, I was looking for the Ruff, too.]]