In the bleak mid-winter: Cliffe Pools 24/12/12

With mum feverishly decking the halls to the accompaniment of dubious Christmas music, I decided to duck out and head to Cliffe Pools for a few hours today. Weather-wise it was a Cliffe kinda day, sultrily overcast, a light breeze and rain not too far away, but I went anyway.

There are a LOT of birds at Cliffe at the moment and while I found nothing that might be considered an early Christmas present, it's never a case of quantity over quality here. The sheer number of ducks and waders on the pools was quite something: tufteds, mallards, little grebes and coots gathered in the hundreds, with pintails, shovelers and gadwalls not far behind. Several handsome drake goldeneyes stood out too, one male jerking his head up and down before behaving in a rather unfestive-like manner with his female companion. But these were nothing compared to the lapwings and black-tailed godwits blanketing the causeways. Their true numbers were only given away when they were spooked by something unseen; there must have been comfortably 1500 of each, swooping and swirling in the dreary afternoon light. It was spectacular:

Heading up the track, the site was quieter; a Kingfisher zipped by and a Curlew called somewhere in the grey and sodden fields, Black-headed gulls and several distant scoters made slow progress in the headwind on the river, but otherwise it almost seemed that all through the site, nothing was stirring, not even a, well y'know...

Have a great Christmas everyone, thanks for reading.