Goosander mid-poop

As the Cattle Egrets have been on BHM in recent mornings I thought an early visit there would be worthwhile. It was pretty disappointing when I arrived shortly after 07:00; the two Barwits were still present along with the Knot but there were no other small waders of interest and the Cattle Egrets weren't there either. They did however fly in just after 07:30 from Seaton Marshes and sat on the same corner of the same island as yesterday morning! They stayed on BHM until 08:50 when they flew North, one on its own initially and then the other 5 shortly afterwards.

An evening visit proved slightly more successful. Upon arrival it was just the same waders of interest but a single Cattle Egret landed on BHM briefly before flying South to the roost site. As it was starting to get dark 2 Goosander flew in! I'd never seen a Goosander on BHM but they only stayed for approx 2 minutes before flying out over the estuary.

I don't mean to make excuses for lousy photos here, but the morning light angle was awful (severely backlit) and the evening shots were all at high ISO due to it getting dark. Still, it's worth posting the pics especially as one of the Goosanders decided to poop for the camera before flying off from BHM!

All 6 Cattle Egrets

The single Cattle Egret briefly on BHM in the evening

Mid-poop

The Sunset was also quite vibrant this evening, this being a mobile phone pic: