White Wings and Waders in Norfolk 5th September 2020

Mark and myself agreed on a day out birding.It did not matter where and it did not matter if there was nothing rare or unusual to go and see. We wanted to get out of our respective houses and immerse ourselves in nature.

We decided on Norfolk as, no matter what, there are always birds to see there. For me it would be a pleasure to forget about the unforgiving concrete of Farmoor Reservoir for a day and indulge myself in the delights of Nelson's County. 

I arranged to meet Mark, as we usually do, at Little Paxton in Cambridgeshire at 7.30am. From here we drove in Mark's car to Titchwell RSPB on the North Norfolk coast, arriving in pleasant sunshine at the reasonably early hour of 9am, planning to beat the weekend crowds which would inevitably arrive later at this popular reserve.

Negotiating the one way directions that the RSPB have installed at the reserve and listening to instructions from enthusiastic volunteers about face masks and filling out contact details while receiving information about the new etiquette in those hides that were open, was a bit irksome but it has to be done for all our safety. 

Finally we were free to go onto the reserve and commence birding.

A visit to an empty Island Hide proved disappointingly unproductive as all the waders, which are usually close to the hide, were far out on the lagoon.Through my scope I could see ranks of Bar tailed Godwits and Knot, some of the latter still in summer plumage, roosting in the shallow water, while feeding Dunlin scurried along the mud in front of them. I was looking for  something more unusual amongst the Dunlin, such as a Little Stint or Curlew Sandpiper  and was delighted to discover three juvenile Curlew Sandpipers. Sadly there was no Little Stint.

Five late Swifts scythed their high speed way along and over the distant dunes. I always feel a touch of melancholy when I see them leaving, as Summer for me is at an end when the Swifts go.

Mark suggested we head further out on the reserve, right out to the beach in fact, where there would undoubtedly be some waders feeding along the shoreline. We passed and said hello to the bird artist James McCallum, crouched on the bank by the busy footpath, sketching the Curlew Sandpipers. Looking over his shoulder I could see he had almost completed a superb study of the Curlew Sandpipers.

When we got to the beach we discovered the tide was only just receding so the waders, if present, would be relatively close and being comparatively early there were only a few other people on the beach, birders and photographers mainly, so the waders would, to a greater extent, be undisturbed

We discovered, as we had hoped, that there were indeed many waders here this morning. The most obvious were diminutive Sanderling, all juveniles as far as I could see, with beautiful spangled grey and black upperparts, their white underparts gleaming in the sun while larger, chunkier Knot, again all juveniles, accompanied them.

Juvenile Sanderling

Juvenile Knot

They were feeding amongst the many scattered shells and cockles strewn across the sand, finding good eating by extracting the flesh of live cockles, which the Knot swallowed with little problem but provided something more of a challenge to the smaller Sanderlings.

Juvenile Knot

Juvenile Sanderling

The high tideline was delineated by a broad swaythe of spent razor shells that stretched, as far as I could see, right along the beach into an indefinite distance and made a satisfying crunching sound under our feet as we walked west along the beach, looking to find a suitably remote spot where we could sit and photograph the waders. We walked a fair distance from where the footpath joined the beach. as most people tend to gather there, appearing reluctant to walk further out onto and along the beach. The best policy is to find an undisturbed area where one can sit and  wait for the waders to come to you as by remaining relatively static and unobtrusive, the birds become confiding and untroubled by your presence.

Soon we were looking at Sanderling and Knot coming very close to us as they examined the shells and other natural detritus on the beach. Juvenile Sanderling are quite exquisite, their underparts shining white, enhanced by reflection from the flashes left on the damp sand by the receding seawater. 

Juvenile Sanderling

The juvenile Knot are similarly attractively marked, their dull white underparts suffused to varying degrees with buff, almost pinkish orange in some extreme cases, whilst their upperparts are grey, each feather scalloped with a pencil line fringe of black and white, imparting a distinct scaly look.

Juvenile Knot

The Sanderling were forever active, running at incredible speed across the sand, endlessly chasing after each other. An individual bird seems to feel uneasy if isolated and will scurry on twinkling black legs to join any available companions. They have been likened to clockwork toys as they run and it is a fair description. They are also very cute and you cannot help but be drawn into anthropomorphism, something that any scientist would decry, but in the case of the Sanderling I cannot concur with the cold logic of science and therefore allow my romantic notions full reign.The Knot being larger, more solid and not so aesthetically pleasing, move at a slower pace,  often standing for a while, displaying a less frantic demeanour and not as relentless as the Sanderling in the search for food.

I felt my spirit become elevated by the joy I took in this simple pleasure of sitting on a wild windswept beach with small wading birds running around and before me. 

Titchwell Beach

Through a camera lens the world is compressed to just the image of a beautiful bird on a beach with the sea providing an aural and visual backdrop. Everything else is excluded, forgotten for a brief moment but one that will linger for longer in my memory, as I enter the world of these birds, living forever under open skies and wide seascapes.

In the end I put the camera down and indulged in a period of reflection as I sat on this expansive, sun soaked and windswept beach looking out to sea. All I needed at this very moment, was before me, as I gazed out to sea and that forever distant horizon that promises so much. Will I ever cross it again? I do hope so.

The tide slowly receded as did the waders, following the retreating surf on the shoreline.The roosting Knot on the reserve's lagoons. roused by some unknown signal, commenced returning to the beach in small flocks to feed with those already there.

Knot

A few more minutes elapsed watching the close formations of flying waders passing low over the beach and breaking waves, and then we accepted it was our time to stir and we too should go and seek refreshment. In our case it was a now customary visit to the cafe on the coast road at Burnham Deepdale for a coffee. Here we discussed what we would do for the rest of the day. 

Before we left for Norfolk we had noted there was a juvenile White winged Black Tern at Cantley Beet Factory, an hour and a half's drive away at the eastern end of Norfolk. Mark keeps a list of birds he has seen in Norfolk and the tern was not on it so it was decided that this is where we would go.

I have been to Cantley Beet Factory once before to see a Water Pipit but it was to be a new experience for Mark and after a long drive we duly arrived at the factory, which from a birder's point of view provides an area of enticing shallow lagoons beyond the working industrial complex of the factory.

We signed in at the gate, were given a pass and told where to drive and park to get to the lagoons. It was then a half mile walk from the parked car, passing alongside the River Yare, to get to the particular lagoon where the tern was to be found.

The Lagoon with the factory in the background

After a short wait, standing on the bank of the lagoon, the tern arrived and commenced feeding over the shallow water in the lagoon. It was surprisingly small and its dipping, diving, swooping flight was elegance personified. It almost bounced on the air as it progressed across the lagoon, flying into the wind to feed, constantly dipping down to pick insects from the surface of the water and then, reaching  the end of the lagoon, in a wide sweep, it allowed itself to be carried downwind, there to turn into the wind once more and repeat the  process.

Juvenile White winged Black Tern

The tern's flight may be elegant but such was its erratic nature it was a nightmare to try and get the bird into focus or even in the camera's view finder. I would like to say it was a matter of skill and judgement on my part, getting images of the tern but the honest truth is one had to just point, shoot and hope. Hundreds of images later and I had just about got one or two that would pass muster.To compound the frustration the sun was in such a position that I had to virtually shoot into it and there was no possibility to photograph the tern from another position.

However there came an unexpected bonus in the form and presence of more wading birds, which came to occupy our attention just as much as the tern. Cantley is renowned for attracting migrating waders and we were not to be disappointed today. We were sat on a bank in one corner of the lagoon and just to our right was a small, reed fringed muddy margin forming a small bay, that was much favoured by half a dozen wading birds. Two were my absolute favourites, a Curlew Sandpiper and a Wood Sandpiper, both juveniles and both ridiculously confiding, coming to within metres of us and showing no signs of concern at our presence whatsoever.

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper

Juvenile Wood Sandpiper

Both possess an eye pleasing symmetry. Everything seems in proportion. In the  case of the Curlew Sandpiper it is the long decurved bill matching its corresponding long legs and in the Wood Sandpiper it is similar, with a long but straight bill and the thinnest of long legs combined with a rakishly slim body and small head. Both species are perfection.

Juvenile Wood Sandpiper and juvenile Ruff

Alongside them, serving to enhance their elegance, were the smaller compact forms of five Dunlin and three larger Ruff, again all juveniles. Both are attractive species in their own right and good to see but come very much second best to the Curlew and Wood Sandpipers, two true aristocrats of the wader family.There were other waders present too, scattered around the lagoon's edges.We saw Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover and Black tailed Godwit.

Juvenile Ruff

Curlew Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper and Dunlin

We spent a pleasant few hours here, photographing and watching both the waders and the tern. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, all the more so as the waders were so unexpected. Both of us agreed that a day where we had anticipated very little had turned out to be one we would not forget in a hurry.

Such is birding. Highs and lows can come and go and you can never know what to expect. That is more than half the fun of it.

Sad to relate, the White winged Black Tern was found dead on Monday 7th September