Went for a walk this morning along the River Aln. I started from the mouth of the River and began to walk upstream. The tide was almost full. Shelduck are on the river together with the Gulls. An Arctic Tern flies by before starting to fish in the river. Oystercatchers are probing what is left of the mudflats looking for food.
Oystercatcher
The bankside bushes and meadows are full of birds – Blackbirds, dunnocks and House Sparrows as yesterday, but also Goldfinches, Starlings and Collared Doves.
Goldfinches
Blackbird
As yesterday the sky is full of circling Common Swifts, House Martins and Swallows. Two land on a fence and I am surprised that when I focus on them they are in fact a pair of Sand Martins.
On the waters edge I can see a duck displaying a large amount of white plumage. It does not look right for Shelduck and as I get closer it comes into the open and I can see it is a male Eider resplendent in its white, black and apple green breeding plumage.
Eider
Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Common Eider [sp] (Somateria mollissima)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Eurasian Oystercatcher [sp] (Haematopus ostralegus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Common Gull (Larus canus canus)
Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
Common Swift [sp] (Apus apus)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia)
Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica)
Common House Martin [sp] (Delichon urbicum)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
