Following on from Saturday's walk, I travelled through to Dunbar once again on Tuesday (23rd) and this time walked west to Tyninghame/John Muir Country Park. I started by walking towards Dunbar harbour ..............
From the harbour wall, I had great views of common seabirds on the rocky islets and, in the distance, the Isle of May was just visible ......
In the harbour were a few Eider ....
.. and the usual Herring Gulls ...........
From the harbour, I walked westwards reaching Belhaven Bay just as the tide was beginning to come in. There were lots of common waders and gulls present with the best birds being Greenshank. From the bay I could also see lots of Gannets out at sea and their home, the Bass Rock, in the background ....
Walking along the well signposted path I came to this footbridge across the Biel Water
..and this led me to the saltmarsh at John Muir Country Park. The Council has constructed a wooden boardwalk on sections of the saltmarsh and a small flock of Starlings were using it as a resting place and vantage point before joining the large flock of Linnets and Meadow Pipits that were actively feeding.....
Further along the path the benefits of elder bushes could be seen with more Starlings enjoying the fruit .....
Having now reached the Hedderwick Hill Plantation ....
.... I soon had superb views of Speckled Wood butterflies
.. and encountered a 'tit' flock high in the canopy which included this Goldcrest, the UK's smallest bird!
I eventually came out of the woods and viewed the inner bay of the Tyne estuary ..
The tide was clearly coming in, so I made my way towards the innermost part of the bay as it can be a good place to see waders and wildfowl at high tide. As I approached this wooden bridge I was conscious of goose calls in the distance ....
... and sure enough there were hundreds of Barnacle Geese to be seen and heard!
There were also lots of Mute Swans, Wigeon, Teal ,Oystercatchers, Redshank and, more surprisingly, a juvenile Gannet ...
Having enjoyed the goose spectacle I made my way back thankful that the weather had brightened up again and noting the difference in the bay now that the tide was almost fully in ....
Walking back, I ventured onto the saltmarsh once again and came across this Wheatear ..
I retraced my steps to Belhaven Bay which now looked totally different ..
.. and the high tide allowed me to get close to this Curlew ...
I walked on past the Shore Road car park and along the edge of the local golf course pausing for this last shot before heading back to Dunbar railway station ....
So another great day's birding with 54 species seen, compared to Saturday's total of 55, with the combined total for both day's coming to 72 different species.
.JPG)
