Ruddy shelduck

Just a quick report from a very lovely walk this afternoon, heading towards Pickerings Pasture from Hale lighthouse:

for those who want a few more ticks... a pair of ruddy shelduck were feeding on the grassland at the end of the path, (where it turns inland back towards Hale village) alongside normal shelduck and some canada geese.  I have seen one of these before in this bay.  Apart from that, there were only a few scattered curlew and redshank braving the biting east wind, though on the return half of the walk I spotted a large flock of meadow pipits feeding on the flat ground right beside the lighthouse, together with a few goldfinch (or possibly skylarks ~ but they were a similar size to the goldfinches).  It was low tide, and the light was wonderful on the pale golden reedbeds and the wet sandbanks out in the bay.

Anne