Tag Archives: Sully beach

A baker’s dozen

14 Tuesday Feb 2023

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I was walking along Sully beach over last Friday’s high tide when a walker and her wide-roaming dog put up this little flock of waders. In panic, they flew together along the beach, wheeled out over the waves and around, heading back to their original location.

230214 ringed plover (1)

Luckily for me, once they considered the woman – or, more likely, the dog – was far enough away, they settled back on the rocks again. The astute amongst you may have counted the flying flock and noted that there were, in fact, more than a baker’s dozen. That was the number of Ringed plovers. They were accompanied by two Turnstones and a single Dunlin.

230214 ringed plover (2)

351/365 Sully beach beauties

17 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in birds, nature, winter

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It’s been a few weeks since I bussed to Sully and walked back to Penarth so, when I realised today’s high tide was mid morning, I headed off. And I was lucky.

191217 sully birds (1)

When I first arrived at the beach there was a large flock of 21 Ringed plovers flying back and forth over the water, and further west a large flock of Oystercatchers hovered right on the water line.

191217 sully birds (2)

Nearer at hand was a mixed flock of around 35 Turnstones, 13 Ringed plovers and 3 Dunlins, though I couldn’t actually see all the birds at once – they were scuttling back and forth to avoid the rising tide, and frequently disappeared behind small rocks and larger boulders.

191217 sully birds (3)

Dogs and their owners kept flushing the birds, which meant I didn’t manage any good photos, though their frequent flying did allow me to count them more easily.

191217 sully birds (4)

113/365 Superb Sully stroll

23 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, seaside

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I caught the bus to Sully this morning, walked along to the western end of the bay, then retraced my steps and walked along the coastal path all the way back to Penarth, about 7½ miles in total. And it was superb, especially the stroll along Sully Bay. I’d timed my walk to be there just before high tide, as that often pushes the birds up closer to the path that runs along the top of the beach, and this was a high high tide so, with some stealthy sneaking along behind the trees, I managed to get really close to a flock of six Whimbrels.

And, to my delight, the Whimbrels had two Bar-tailed godwits with them. I’ve never managed to get so close to either species before so I was really chuffed. And, if you’re wondering why the godwits don’t look the same, the bird on the left (below) is a male in his summer breeding colours, while the bird on the right might be a juvenile or a non-breeding adult.

53/365 Curlews

22 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter

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190222 Curlew

Most of the Curlews that graze on Sully’s playing fields during the winter months seem now to have moved on, motivated by thoughts of breeding to head to the uplands perhaps. I only saw four on the fields this morning through the fog and they soon flew down to the shore. Others were lurking amongst the rocks and seaweeds, though you could only really find them out if they called or when they moved – they are incredibly well camouflaged, even without today’s fog shroud.

11/365 Gull vs Heron

11 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, seaside, walks, winter

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It may have been grey and occasionally mizzling but that didn’t stop me enjoying a fabulous walk back from Sully beach to Penarth today. A tribe of 30 Turnstones flew in, as did 4 Grey plover and a little Dunlin friend; Rock pipits were flitting to and fro; there were 27 Curlew grazing on the playing fields – always a treat to watch; and I saw my first Kestrel of the year, perched on a high wire, watching. I did feel a little sorry for this Grey heron though, being harassed by a juvenile gull (Herring, I think).

190111 gull vs grey heron

Friday’s walk 2: Rocky the pipit

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in autumn, birds, nature, walks

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Before leaving Friday’s walk along Sully beach, I have another bird encounter to share.

180930 Rocky the pipit (1)

There were a lot of Rock pipits foraging amongst the rocks and piles of seaweed, more than I have seen before on Sully beach.

180930 Rocky the pipit (2)

One bird was reasonably close to where I was sitting so I had the camera up, trying to get some photos of it, when I noticed what seemed like rather odd behaviour.

180930 Rocky the pipit (3)180930 Rocky the pipit (4)

The bird hopped down from the seaweed on to a flat stone and started to stamp its feet and shuffle back and forth, looking for all the world like it was practising its line-dancing moves.

180930 Rocky the pipit (6)

Because I had the camera up to my face and was zoomed in on this one bird – let’s call him Rocky – I didn’t realise that there was actually another Rock pipit standing very close by.

180930 Rocky the pipit (7)

Rocky was focused intently on this other bird. He puffed up his chest and strutted about and did some more line-dancing moves, but the other bird didn’t seem very impressed. If this had been springtime, I would have said Rocky was trying to impress a female but it’s autumn.

180930 Rocky the pipit (8)

Next thing, Rocky’s done with the dancing and flew straight at the other bird.

180930 Rocky the pipit (9)

They bumped chests, flapped wings and generally fluttered about for a couple of minutes, presumably each bird trying to assert its dominance through this display.

180930 Rocky the pipit (10)

The other bird relinquished the rock, and the seaweed, to Rocky, who looked rather pleased with his success. I’ve since read that Rock pipits can be very territorial so I assume Rocky was defending his patch on the beach from the intruder. It was certainly fascinating to watch.