South of the Cafe

A visit to Winterton on Sea. My 2 targets were Shore Lark and Velvet Scoter. Both species had been reported as "south of the café". I spent about 45 minutes searching the beach side of the dunes and also scanning the Common Scoter flock. No luck for me or several other birders with either species. Then our luck changed as out of the Marram Grass flew 3 Shore Lark. We enjoyed good views of the Shore Larks before they were flushed by the thousands of dog walkers on the beach. Our attention then turned to a small flock of Scoter that were close in and of a much darker colour than the larger flock that contained mainly female and juvenile Common Scoter. On closer inspection all five birds were drake Velvet Scoter. Nice!
iphonescoped Shore Lark pics below.