It can be tough getting a good shot of Greater Scaup, they're often closest when in harbours rather than the open sea. On this occasion, standing on the tideline checking gulls, the birds were cruising the tideline and coming to me.
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| Immature Red-breasted Merganser |
It wasn't just ducks off the beach, there were waders on the beach, mainly Dunlin, Sanderling and these Kentish Plovers.
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| Kentish Plover |
And of course more gulls. There are plenty of atypical Vega around vying for attention, this was a nice one...
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| Distinctly small with shortish, purple legs. The saddle really is darker than the other Vega even though the different angle doesn't normally allow a meaningful comparison. |
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| Extensive white in the outer primaries isn't unusual, a significant minority show this. |
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| The fine streaking on the very rounded head and the bill slight are sufficiently unusual to catch the eye. However all the features shown by this gull can be found sifting through a flock of Vega, it's the combination of delicate head along with that saddle shade, the legs and wing-tip markings making it worth the attention. |
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