Yesterday was more interesting and enjoyable than I expected. I had heard good reports that the new wetland, created at Seaton Marsh was well worth another visit. Having stated on numerous occasions that I don’t normally enjoy public hides, I approached the trip with a feeling of duty rather than anticipation. I have a gallery of Devon Birds, one photo of each species on my PBase galleries, (click on the link), and I was keen to add a few more new species. As soon as I arived in the Island Hide, I had good views of both Ruff and then Curlew Sandpiper.  The hide was quite busy (quiet it wasn’t), and it had the feeling of a social occassion, especially when I realised that I knew a couple of the chaps already there.  It was nice to see Tom, one of my Blog readers who I always enjoy meeting.

Anyway, back to the birds. There was a lot of activity with small groups of waders moving around.  Some smashing Greenshank were very prominant and I took a few really nice shots even though my 6.5 lens struggled a bit with the lack of light. 

Also, in association with a small group of Dunlin, was a lovely Little Stint – aptly scientifically called Calidris minuta. he photos I took have been added to my Devon Gallery but unfortunately, it didn’t come close enough to get a nice photo for inclusion here.
Little Egrets do it for me, they can be boring when just posing but you can get something a bit different if you a prepared to watch and wait. This was the case yesterday and I know that the other photographers were wondering why I was taking so much time on them when, in their eyes, there were better opportunities with the slightly more unusual species. But I love Little Egrets and check these two out.


So all in all a good day, a god day, a little bit different for me but a nice change made even more interesting when I had a look at the photos of a distant male Kestrel, photographed coming down on to prey from a telegraph wire opposite the hide.