Shore Lark at Kessingland North Pool

On Sunday 21st November, a sunny but occasionally showery morning had me driving back to Kessingland and getting out of the car, I experienced from light rain walked past heathlands and down the steps to the beach this time wrapped up for winter birding with gloves, woolly hat and Wellington boots. I traveresed the inland pool and just reached the south- east edge of the big shore pool and almost immediately spotted the excellent Shore Lark, but on no! My canine nemesis were yet again upon we 2 small yappy dogs barking and running towards me yet the owner was walking south so I decided to run at the dogs to draw them away from the bird. Anybody observing this might of thought this was crazy behaviour but anything to keep the dogs from disturbing the bird. My unusual tactics worked well and after the dogs had ran back to the owner I was able to turn my attention back to the bird and it showed reasonably well feeding by the flotsam around 4 metres from the pool edge, I was joined by another birder and we both watched and photo'd the bird until 2 horse riders took the horses into the pool from the landward side and then cantered north (the horses, not me!) The Shore Lark flew onto the muddy spit and fed here for a while before it ran north and using the marram grass as cover we were able to get within 15 metres of the bird at one point and it was perched on a ridge I got my best pics before it fed again on the jersam just metres from the pool edge now half way along. We were joined by Neville & Tony B and I left the bird to look out to sea, where 30 Common Scoters were seen around half way out in a tightly packed formation. Back at Ness Point seeing, Andrew E. a very high tide had a single Purple Sandpiper fly up the compass, but inevitable people coming along soon pushed it to fly off north. Later on in the afternoon, after hearing of a Little Auk flying North from Southwold, I looked from Ness Point for 75 minutes, the first 20 not a single bird was seen out to sea, but eventually 4 Shelduck seen flying south, the highlight. Inevitably no sign of the Little Auk continuing my long standing run of never getting onto a bird seen flying in the direction of Lowestoft.