What lunchbreaks are for #5

Barely counts as a lunchbreak – 30 mins down to Southport beach today for a quick gander at the Snow Bunting that turned up yesterday.

Nearly stood on it as I walked down the ramp, but the bird just ignored me, scampering up onto the seawall, before scurrying back down onto the tideline where it fed beside the noticeboard at the south end of the beach.

I felt the pages of another calendar year fly off the wall in the cold north easterly breeze – if there’s a Snow Bunt on Southport beach, it must be winter again. Carbon copy seed-stuffing.

Tempting to wonder if it is a returning bird, but only ringing would confirm that.

All I would say is that if it has visited previously, the bird must have selective amnesia as it ignored a dog and owner that passed by less than a metre away at lunchtime, and I reckon any Snow Bunting that had shuffled along this tideline before would be well aware of dog disturbance.

Newbie or not, it was time to get down in the shells and debris for another ropey Snow Bunt video, on YouTube here. It ain’t winter till you’ve got wet knees and a camera full of Snow Bunt pics…