Ainsdale Beach

I had a walk along Ainsdale beach this afternoon with my son. Unsurprisingly perhaps the beach was deserted, hardly even a dog walker to be seen. The tide was on the ebb and there were thousands of gulls on the tideline and large parties of waders, mainly bar-tailed godwits, sanderling and knot, but also plenty of dunlin, curlew and oystercatchers. It was blowing a south-westerly gale, but the sky was mainly blue, with just the occasional threatening black cloud passing by. In fact it was a tremendous experience and a pleasure to be there.

Bar-tailed godwits.

Strange how this one godwit was in full summer plumage, yet I didn't notice a single other bird with any traces of red. I'd go so far as to say that this is perhaps the finest example I've ever seen of a summer plumage bar-tailed godwit. I wonder if this birds moult is just out of sequence. Will it be in non-breeding plumage when the other birds are in summer plumage? Surely it can't stay in summer plumage right through to the end of summer. Surely it will need to moult before then to replace it's feathers? Dunno, but it's a cracking looking bird.

Sanderling.

Sanderling and knot (mainly).