An afternoon at the seaside

photos taken with iPhone 4S

And now for something completely different

I'm back from Another Place, the Antony Gormley installation on Crosby beach, Merseyside. There are 100 life-sized metal figures on the beach. When the tides are at their highest, they can all be submerged totally.

When we were there, the tide was on its way out. New sculptures appeared all the time, which was weird. It shows the power of nature, or that whoever put them in did a really good job in making sure they didn't get dragged out to sea. They're mounted on metre-long piles sunk into the beach.

I remember reading some conservationists' concerns that the sculptures might scare birds off, but we watched a flock of Sanderlings scurrying around right next to one. I guess the increased numbers of visitors might be more of an issue, but it was pretty empty while we were there, on a blowy Tuesday afternoon.

The Starlings were in the car park, close to the ice-cream van and mobile burger bar. They were mostly males, congregating next to people who were sitting in their cars. The birds sang while they waited.

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photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Cornwall 2008

Sennen Cove

Razorbill on the beach

As well as mucking about on the beach, there was also the small matter of the first Alder Flycatcher for the UK, at Nanjizal. Well, that's what they say it is, anyway. Conveniently we were driving through Penzance (on our way back from The Lizard for the Common Nighthawk) when news broke, and chortled as a chopper took off. You could almost hear the cries from inside: 'No, we've got to land again! Let me out!'

Read all about it at Buckton Birder.

Loads of nice scenery but birds were more elusive.

Kynance Cove

Kenidjack

More photos at www.flickr.com/photos/bogbumper

We stayed at Beachside Studio, Sennen Cove, and got quite a good window list going: Chough, Raven, Arctic Skua, Kittiwake (including three colour-ringed birds which I'm waiting to hear about), Gannet, Arctic Skua, Mediterranean Gull, Buzzard, Razorbill, Grey Seal, Rock Pipit and, er, Robin. 

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Holme

Dunlin

beach pebbles

whose footprint?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, Extender EF 1.4x II

Surf's up!

On the beach at Minsmere

Looking towards Southwold

The great British (?) tradition, the sandcastle

Ringed Plovers fleeing from the bank holiday crowds

Sizewell at 6.34 am. The Kittiwakes were screeching already

Darren tried seawatching but didn't see anything except butterflies...

Red Admirals (and a few Small Tortoiseshells) were crossing the North Sea (presumably from the Netherlands). This one made landfall on a nice warm metal NT sign

Can you feel the sand between your toes?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Norfolk - again...

Saturday was very enjoyable, and it turned out that Sunday was, too. Good job, because it's Darren's birthday!

Started off with a pre-breakfast walk around Hickling. Not terribly productive, but saw Barn Owl hunting and heard [invisible] Marsh Harrier displaying and Bearded Tit 'pinging'.

Next stop, Caistor

The flock of 60 Snow Buntings reported at the north end of town yesterday had increased to 85 this morning.

Many of these birds were colour-ringed. Having looked on the http://www.cr-birding.be website, it looks likely that they were ringed at Caistor itself but of course I'll submit the combinations to the BTO so it's all official.

A short hop down the coast into Great Yarmouth found 20 Mediterranean Gulls on the beach between the piers.

Decided to go home the long way, round the coast road. Stopped at Salthouse, where the first-winter Glaucous Gull had been seen (saw it at Cley last weekend), but I spotted a guy digiscoping something on the shingle and went to investigate. Eventually, through the heat-haze (!), a flock of Snow Buntings appeared.

To start with, I was watching the bloke and thinking, 'wish I had my digiscoping kit with me' (I was just carrying the new camera, and my bins). The birds were a bit too far away for DSLR-action. Then, someone walking along the shingle bank flushed them and they wheeled round and landed right in front of me! Bingo! My lucky day...

These birds were stupendously tame. I was pleased when they first flew in, but they kept coming closer and closer. Eventually, the closest birds got to within about four feet of me! To be honest, they were a bit too close for photography, but it was a fantastic experience.

The reason they came so close was because someone had baited the area with wheat. While the Snow Buntings flew off for a while, a gaggle of Turnstones flew in from behind me and landed in the same spot as the buntings had!

I really like Turnstones. They're very characterful. While the flock (of about 10 birds) pecked away, I listened to their conversational chattering to each other and the sound of the pebbles being flipped over.

You can see its bill is curved to one side for stone-turning, and there's a pebble in mid-air just next to it!

By this stage, I felt a bit like the Bird Lady from Mary Poppins (not good; I was made to sing it in a gangshow when I was about 11 and have never quite recovered).

Restored barn, Thornham

Ended the day at Holme Dunes NNR. While Darren watched the sea, I pottered around looking for photo opportunities. This flock of Knot (with Dunlin and Ringed Plover hangers-on) was about all there was.

Knot, led by Ringed Plover

Mussel shell

rippled sand, Holme Dunes NNR

Walking back to the car park, D muttered 'all we need now is a Jack Snipe and a Short-eared Owl'. Not sure why he mentioned those two species, but as we walked along the edge of one of the pools, a Lapland Bunting flew up!

Not a bad end to the day.

• Click here to read about the previous day in Norfolk.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, Extender EF 1.4x II