Saturday 2nd October

 The threatened storm hadn't arrived at first light so I headed down to Radipole for a bit of pre-breakfast birding leaving the others to enjoy a lie-in. Among the gulls in the car park was the expected Med Gull and I stopped on the bridge by the visitor centre to see if anything flew out from its overnight roost. A few Little Egrets emerged and I nearly had a Cattle Egret when a stocky all white bird with an orange bill flew around at the back but it was just an Aylesbury type Mallard. A Kingfisher zipped past which was to be the only one all weekend.

I walked down to the viewing platform over the reedbed where I heard Bearded Tit, Water Rail and a few Cetti's Warblers but there wasn't much else so I headed back for a full English breakfast just as the rain began.

With an appalling weather forecast of strong winds and heavy rain we made plans for the day and decided not to venture too far. We took the bus down to Ferrybridge and walked to the visitor centre/cafe for a bit of shelter. 

Ferrybridge

There were plenty of waders with Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone and a single Little Stint to look at along with a few Sandwich Terns and yet more Med Gulls.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Juvenile Sanderling

Turnstones

Despite the continuing rain we decided to walk up the shingle ridge and have a look at the sea in case the wind had blown in anything close; unfortunately there was nothing apart from a few gulls. We checked out the pools at the east end where there was a Curlew to add to the wader list and a Little Egret, then went back to the centre for another look at the waders.

By now we were all pretty wet through so we decided to head back into town and walked back up the road to get the bus. We got off by the roundabout and walked over to Radipole for a proper look. We walked the entire length of the paths but there wasn't much around in these conditions. We flushed a Sparrowhawk that was taking cover in a tree and as we approached the screen at the top end a Buzzard was sat on the fence but flew off when it saw us approaching. A decent flock of Swallows and House Martins were feeding over the open water.

With the visitor centre shut we called into Greggs for a late lunch and headed back to the B&B to dry out and have a rest. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow.