The natural vegetation around the adjoining marshes attracts many passerines too - often on migration, but many resident.
The Waders are starting to arrive now, on their Autumn/Winter migration and gradually the numbers will increase steadily over the coming colder months. High Tide is the best time to see them as they get pushed off the mud banks in the estuary. Which fell nicely mid morning today, so I hot footed it down there to see what was about. And although still a little quiet, there were plenty of waders to keep a Birder happy for a couple of hours in the hide.
However, en-route to the viewing platform I got distracted by some Willow Warblers, pointed out to me by a local (well known and almost resident) Birder. The birds were obviously there, but challenging to photograph as they were mostly flitting about on the other side of the hedgerow, flashing glimpses at us now and then.
They decided to play hide and seek for an hour or so, and I'd now gathered around me two other birders and a few locals gawping like we were in a freak show. The other two birders were now running up and down the hedgerow shouting at me 'here Jo", " no here Jo", "over here, look there's a parent feeding a juvenile" and I was running frantically as instructed but missing each opportunity which evaporated by the time I got there - as it does when you're trying to photograph birds on demand!
Much as I enjoyed the company of my fellow birders, I knew I had to be on my own if I was going to get any shots worth keeping. Eventually, I got my moment, brief as it was and I won't win any awards. But, like all my photographs, they are a memory of a nice day spent in a beautiful location, watching nature at its best - doing its thing.
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