Red-vent horizon

A profitable four hours was spent at Connah’s Quay late morning and early afternoon, with a fly-through Hobby, a Grey Wagtail and a single Golden Plover the more unusual birds.

As is typical at this time of year, the best birding to be had though was the magnificent spectacle of thousands of wading birds trying to outwit the incoming tide.

Oystercatchers and Black-tailed Godwits were legion, with fewer numbers of Knot and Redshank.

Unfortunately most of the action took place a good way from the West Hide over towards Flint, precluding close scrutiny of the waders.

More amenable were the ‘shanks on the Bunded Pools – amongst the hundreds of Redshanks Mark Murphy and I managed to extract at least five Spotted Redshanks and about ten Greenshanks.

The local Peregrines put on a good turn too, hunting in tandem; the female did the spooking whilst the male was tasked with the actual hunting – something it summarily failed to bring to a successful conclusion.

Until later.