Purple Patch!

Bitterly cold today in the straight Northerly wind, and with the still clear sky and lots of sunshine it meant another great day to be out birding. The only birds of note today on my local patch, were the two Purple Sandpipers. They were chasing each other around the rocks and calling a lot, but not in an aggressive way, so could they be gearing up for the breeding season already?





It was while watching the antics of these two, that all chaos started going on all around on the water front. It was then that I found the culprit... A Merlin had flown in and was watching the small birds feeding on the beach! All the birds were aware of this predator apart from the Purple Sandpipers who were still too busy with each other! Unfortunately the Merlin quickly spotted me and was off as fast as it had arrived, but not before I managed a quick pic!