If you have read Mab or Old Nick's posts you will know that we went to the seaside today to get away from the heat and pollution down here.
Parking the car at the Tower Car Park we headed off down to the beach passing this remnant of the UK's wartime coastal defences on the way
When we got to the beach I noticed what I thought might be a spoonbill in a tidal pool so I went to investigate and saw this fellow here
I was wrong but not disappointed it was an egret
which is a relative of the heron and was a rare summer visitor here until global warming kicked in
so leaving him to fish in peace I headed onto the beach where I spied this chap
an oyster catcher who was very busy hunting for hermit crabs and other delicacies near the waterline.
There were also some gulls
Somewhat confusingly the black headed gull is the one with the chocolate brown head while the one with the black head is a Mediterranean gull. Mediterranean gulls are similar to out native little gulls only they have a red beak not a dark one. As the name suggests they are a Mediterranean species, but they are becoming more common off the south east coast sharing the same breeding sites as the misnamed black headed gulls. I think they must have been on their summer holiday away from their winter habitat of Sainsbury's car park
Anyway I was well pleased with seeing all these critters and getting some decent photographs of them too.
On the way back to the car park I shot this
this is the Walton Tower, a navigation aid originally built by Trinity House back in 1720. Apparently the eight floor tower is the only surviving example of an octagonal lighthouse in the UK. Its now an art gallery.
There you go history and nature all in one post
Species seen today
Mediterranean gull
Black headed gull
Herring Gull
Oyster Catcher
Egret
Swallow
Blackbird
Jackdaw
Rook
Feral pigeon
Wood pigeon
Pied wagtail
rabbit
QueeneMab
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Nice photos Ships.
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