They're back.

johnalison

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When I go down to Titchmarsh to check the boat I like to peek over the side and see what birds are around. Last year, I never saw the usual flock of golden plovers that like to roost on the Twizzle, but this year they are back in force. The second picture shows a bit more than half the flock, so maybe a thousand birds. Something must have spooked them because they all took off, flew round in a circle and then came down again to land. There were plenty of my favourite duck, the pintail in the creek too, along with widgeon, teal, Brent, godwits, shelduck, little grebes, knots, dunlin, curlew, grey plovers, but no avocets,though I saw some a few weeks ago.P1100061 copy.jpgP1100064 copy.jpgP1100076 copy.jpgP1100074 copy.jpg
 

AntarcticPilot

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I was told when I was in Singapore that it's illegal to take durian on the Mass Paid Transport system there.

But then, it seemed quite a lot of things are illegal in Singapore. They do seem keen on regulation.
I think most airlines refuse to carry them in the passenger compartment. A friend had one recently; the smell is not good.
 

peter.m

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Nice to see some about. As recent as 20 years ago there used to be clouds of Plover / Dunlin / Knot. Now I'm lucky to see a few hundred. You must have bored to count them one at a time.
 

johnalison

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Counting birds is difficult! Several of my former colleagues worked very hard to produce reliable methodologies, and one who used to work for me has made a name for himself counting penguins from satellite images.
I was out by over 100% in my photo. I opened it in Photoshop and painted them in one at a time with a graphic pad, changing the colour every 100. It didn't take long. I am a habitual counter. I think that it comes from the days of cine film, when one got into the habit of counting seconds while one shot. I even find myself counting as I coil a rope. I can count with half my brain while the other half gets on with something useful.
 

steved

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Out and about yesterday, and spotted these on the Twizzle / Hamford water, fourth pic is an avocet, but not exactly sure what the other bird is, anybody advise?
DSC_0084.jpegDSC_0088.jpegDSC_0077.jpegunnamed.jpg
 

johnalison

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Out and about yesterday, and spotted these on the Twizzle / Hamford water, fourth pic is an avocet, but not exactly sure what the other bird is, anybody advise?
View attachment 106230View attachment 106231View attachment 106233View attachment 106232
Young razorbill. I've never seen one in the area. I think their nearest sites would be somewhere like the Farne islands but maybe they get around. I've seen them in the Scillies and Heligoland and the Baltic. I've seen Guillemots off Suffolk but not on inlet waters.
 
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