The high tide on the Wash at dusk on the 1st March before the ‘big spring’ the next morning occurs on a quiet, still evening. At Snettisham Beach, a mile north of the old gravel pits, the oystercatchers come down the water’s edge in a constant procession of small flocks that fly just over the…
Tag: Knot
Chasing oystercatchers and sleeping turnstones
Spring is alive when the oystercatchers start chasing rivals off territories. Two birds twist and turn up and down the beach in close formation. This frenzy is in marked contrast to the roosting turnstones and a single knot that quietly sit out the high tide on the wooden groynes. At the peak of the flood,…
Shellness wader roost
The shifting headlands of cockle shells at Shellness provides shelter to a huge saltmarsh and these are some of the wildest and most natural coastal habitats in Kent since there is no sea wall to keep the tidal waters in check. At high tide, the sea almost covers the entire headland but just stops short…