Return of Old Friends?

 Well. The weather isn't getting any better is it 😂😉

Snow, ice and rain just about covers the week.

Still, at least I'm still here to complain, so things can't be that bad yet. 

The highest point of the week was my sighting of two Turnstones and a Purple Sandpiper, which were the first of the autumn and the ones I've been looking for.

 

Last seen in Spring, a pair of Turnstones and a single Purple Sandpiper were with us for most of last winter. Given the exact same numbers/species are here again, it is tempting to think the birds are those same birds that left all those months ago, and have now returned to the same wintering grounds. 

 

I've seen them a few times since but it was great to welcome back some old friends (assuming they are indeed the same birds!).

 

One of two Turnstones on the sea front

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

 I've seen up to ten Sanderling on the beaches here, with just one wearing a metal ring and none yet with coloured rings.

Ringed Sanderling

Back on the Mere, a Slavonian Grebe and a Great Northern Diver flew in and have lingered ever since, but I have yet to catch up with the GND. I had a look through Jon's scope at the Slav Grebe, which was way over on the northern shore when he found it. The GND has been approaching the southern shore relatively closely, but I still haven't seen it yet.

 

The Scaup are also hanging on and I managed to get a few pics of two of them as they were feeding just off KP.

Scaup off KP

Two Scaup off KP

Common Gull on KP jetties

 The Mere water level is back to normal now and there are no exposed shores or islets. The bent mooring pole that became a marker for a well-populated islet of exposed shale during the summer drought is no longer showing its base.  Named "slopey pole island" for obvious reasons, it is back to being just a pole sticking up out of the water. It is used as a perch by several species of bird, including cormorants:

Slopey pole

The snow came down quite heavily but really only stayed for a day and was quickly melted by the rain that followed, but the day after, the residue had frozen so that made walking on pavements a bit tricky for us old folk 😀

 

 The snow melt and the heavy rain has waterlogged the fields and footpaths, so I'm back to soggy trudges during the morning walks. I'll have to look for better waterproof boots, as walking miles in wellies doesn't do me any good at all.

The ditches are full

Very wet footpaths along the Mere south side

Flooded fields

 

Flooded gateways

Snow, the day after it fell

 I am looking forward to getting a few consecutive dry days so that my boots and socks can have time to dry off properly between walks. It's really wet and winter hasn't even started yet 🤨