Snettisham - 17/5/2022

Pair of OYSTERCATCHERS

One of the greatest wildlife spectacles of this country we inhabit is the wader roost at Snettisham on the Wash. On a very high tide in October you can witness maybe a hundred thousand birds swirling in murmarations, as they fly over your head as the incoming tide covers the last of the mudflats. As there is no room on the estuary as the tide rise, they all fly over to land on the gravel pits next to the estuary, where thousands of birds pack into a tight place jostling for position. However in mid May, when most of the birds have gone to the far north of our world to nest there were only a few thousand birds present today, creating nothing much of a spectacle.

BLACK HEADED GULLS nest anywhere they can

The wader spectacle was late in the day allowing me the day to spend at Pensthorpe (see previous blog). As is usual for a wader spectacular, there were plenty of people present, making an occasion of it. What was unusual for a spectacular, was that the weather was nice and warm, instead of the freezing cold you would get in October. 

The flocks of waders were in their thousands, not their hundred of thousands

Its a long walk from the car park to the reserve proper, walking past fishing pits and then the first of the gravel pits and shore bungalows. Its only when you get to the final gravel pit that things become interesting. There, thousands of BALCK HEADED GULLS, MED GULLS, COMMON TERNS and AVOCETS cram into the islands on the pit, a great noisy mass of white. Then all of a sudden pandemonium would erupt as a GREATER BALCK BACKED GULL would swoop in and steal an egg. Its by this pit where you witness the spectacular.

There were a few wader murmarations

An offshoot of the season producing fewer birds, is that the birds present are nattily attired. In the brief days of summer the WADERS all put on some stunning plumage. In the ascendency were GREY PLOVERS, with  their black belly and silver back; brick red KNOTS; further brick red BARWITS; DUNLINS with their little black bellies; SANDERLING in their dirty purple, all gorgeously coloured. Also about was a SPOONBILL sieving its bill along one of the estuary creaks, an iconic bird of the Norfolk Coast.

The tide would come in and cover all the mud forcing the birds into ever tighter corners

The tide comes in quickly and before you notice it its caught up with you. Despite the season there were still plenty of birds about on the mud and the tide line. The birds gradually moved in with the tide, and by the time the water had fully come in there were a couple of murmarations, knots of birds swirling in the air in unison, but the numbers were low. The birds hearts were not really into it as they dream of departing for northern climes.

Rather than use the gravel pits the birds tended to fly somewhere else.

So a bit of a disappointment in that the spectacular was fairly small. It must have been a drag for those non birders who turned up to see it, expecting to witness something grand. However I have never been to Snettisham in a warm month, so it was interesting to experience the place when I don't have to cover up in layers and shiver my nuts off. But the year still carries on and it wont be long before we hit the colder months and the waders start to arrive en mass for their winter and we can once again witness this spectacle at its most spectacular.