· Dee Marshes, Gayton ·
The plan was to do some work in the car before heading off to Dad’s, but I arrived at the usually quiet car park to find it packed with birders. It was an unusually high tide, and the marshes were flooded.
There were hundreds of birds milling about: black-headed gulls, redshank, curlews, teal, mallard, greylag and pink-footed geese, a few shelducks. Far out, I spotted a small formation of darker-coloured geese heading out into the estuary. ‘Brent,’ observed the birder standing next to me with his kick-ass telescope. Brent geese: my first ever.
I’d arrived just in time for the high tide. Over the next hour the waters and birders swiftly dissipated, till I had the car park all to myself, as originally planned.
Time to do some work!
