Estuary

In common with most estuaries, Where the rivers meet the sea along the Algarve, you find a nice assortment of birds.  At Praia da Rocha, we encountered Sanderlings (Calidris alba) scurrying around on the rocks.

Among the Sanderlings were a couple of Purple Sandpipers (Calidris maritima), but unfortunately, the light was so bad - it was early on a cloudy morning - that the pictures I took didn't come out too well.  Along the coast, we walked to the attractive village of Alvor and there, the estuary is rather more expansive, with lots of mud for wading birds to search for their food.  Here, we found a Greenshank (Tringa nebularia).

The sheltered estuary at Alvor was a haven for small fishing craft and yachts too, several of which were bobbing about on the water or lying, stuck in the mud.

Getting late in the day, we sat for a while to enjoy the scene as the sun went down - and what a lovely sight it made!

Time to head back before it got too dark.