A Pile O' Shite

A very large pile of shite has appeared on the patch

A large pile of shite

Closer inspection revealed it not to be shite but a pile of the compost the Council produce from garden waste, still, it might bring a few birds in. The farmer used to leave piles of chicken muck lying around and it was good for all sorts of birds.

Anyhoo, there were no birds on it tonight, and not many elsewhere on the patch, the bushes were pretty quiet. I checked out the beach for snow buntings, there weren't any, but a wheatear and a rock pipit were nice finds. 

There was also this dead seal pup, not very old (less than four weeks?) It looked a little different and I was thinking it might be too early for grey seal pups, especially this far from the Farnes, unless they are pupping on Coquet Island this year. Might it be a common (harbour) seal pup? They are tricky and head shape and nostril pattern are good indicators - I didn't photograph the nostrils but the head/nose area was pretty mangled anyhoo. Maybe Steely offuv the Farnes can help?

Dead Seal Pup - common or grey?

Its heed

To be honest, when I first saw it, I thought it was a small white dog.

This spotted flycatcher was on the fence at dusk, it looked really orangey at time sin the setting sun.

Spotted Flycatcher

small flocks of birds flew in, or over, at dusk, including a small group of redpoll and some linnets.

And a nice sunset to round of the evening.

Sunset through the dunes

The wind will be coming out of the east over the weekend, SE to begin with, then swinging more northerly, with good, clear conditions on the other side. All we need is some murk and mizzle to drop birds in, but it is looking unlikely, though XCweather is predicting some mist tomorrow evening. We'll have the nets up whatever.