Wade in the Water

Waders are part of the staple diet of bird-watching in Northumberland.  Our wonderful beaches and several nearby ponds always give us access to these charming little birds.

And one of the joys is, of course, that they do not hide in trees! 

On the other hand, identifying them is not always straightforward.  We mostly see them in winter, in non-breeding plumage, and they can look a bit similar to each other (well..to me anyway!)

A trip to Cresswell Ponds last week brought me a "lifer"... the first time I had seen a Curlew Sandpiper. To avoid disturbing the bird I took my photos at the extreme range of the camera lens - so the pictures were not that sharp.  But hopefully you can see the smoothly curved bill, the long white eye-stripe and 'scaled' look to the back and wings.







It is about the same size as a Dunlin - of which there were several around the pond - and therefore smaller than the Redshank, here seen next to it.

When the Dunlin were sitting on the muddy bank, they were quite difficult to spot...

Here you can see the Dunlin, moving from summer into winter plumage, quite clearly..

The other wader we see regularly is the Sanderling - one of my favourites - as it scampers up and down our pristine sandy beaches...