Yes, I know that if you count the number of days, February is the shortest month. But for the patch watcher it always feels like a long month - the long wait for spring. A new year and a new year list makes January quite exciting, by the time February comes along you've seen most of the birds that you're going to see until the first spring migrants turn up at the end of March.
I saw three new species of the year on a brief visit to Druridge this afternoon -
little egret on the Budge fields and a
buzzard over the haul road were new.
Fulmar was the other addition, flying south offshore. A January Fulmar is rare at Druridge, I always think of them as a February bird, a bit like gannets.
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| Little egret feeding on the Budge fields |
There were at least five
black-tailed godwits on the Budge fields and alongside the little egret a drake
pintail was nice. I couldn't find the earlier-reported knot but the light was against me. Two lapwings were having a right barney so spring might already be in the air.
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| territorial lapwings |
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| Black-tailed godwit |
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| The same bird - feeding |
Offshore the tide was well out and the birds distant. A scrambler bike on the beach did for any shore bird interest.
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| Two white-fronted geese flying over - from last weekend |
