Goldcliff, Easter Monday - 21/04/2014

Another really nice day meant I was itching to get out and about and with nowhere else to go I decided on Goldcliff, and I'm really glad I did. The sun was shining and it was so warm I was quickly down to my t-shirt, no need for the warm weather clothes I'd had on only days before. There were a friendly bunch down there, including a knowledgeable chap called Dan.

There were a couple of hundred  dunlin in summer plumage flying around which could well have contained the reported curlew sandpiper. 3 stock doves flew in which was good to see, but also of note was a lesser whitethroat which I as glad to have identified first by song and then which I saw in flight briefly, a peregrine with a quick flyby, avocets, lots of lapwing, and an elusive spotted redshank of which I think I have pictures, but I can't be sure. Really need that scope! So, since my lists began, that's two lifers right there, and it could have been a third and even a fourth with the spotted shank and curlew sandpiper, but it was not to be today. I'm now also up to 111 on my British year list without doing anything intensively, so I'm happy to say it's going well so far! 

Greenshank