8th March - I don't usually visit at the weekends, unless a good bird has been reported and I'm not otherwise engaged. Today, I received a text from regular Alan S that a
Black-tailed Godwit was on the spit. So, I eventually managed a brief whistle stop visit at midday en route to a game of tennis. Fortunately the Blackwit was still present, happily feeding away on the flooded spit. It was a brief look and a few record shots and off. How frustrating to then receive another text from Alan to say that a Goldeneye was there! These ducks have become very scarce here and I had missed the only previous one day bird earlier in the year. So, mid afternoon found me on site again. The
Goldeneye was a bit distant in the SE corner - a female type, but with quite a bit of white in the flank and a hint of a white spot on the face, so possibly a 1st winter male, but a retarded one if it was.
The Godwit was still present. The question with these birds is whether they are the usual
islandica race that we get on passage - birds that breed in Iceland, or
limosa, the continental race. There are differences, but also variation, so it is not always a straight forward distinction. This bird was in transitional plumage from winter to summer and seemed to show some
limosa characteristics. It appeared quite orange and brown as opposed to deep red/orange with more greyish tones; the orange appeared to be restricted to the neck and upper breast; the bill was very long and bright orange at the base, which was quite deep based and gave the bird quite a flat headed appearance. So possibly a
limosa, but I'm not certain with a bird that is in transitional plumage. Distant record shots here:
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