Winged Migration

As the nesting season winds down, we increasingly see the cast of birds changing, winged migration is underway. 

About a month ago we saw oystercatcher numbers increasing again, never completely gone their flocks becoming larger and more obvious.  Then curlew, their numbers are still on the rise and what a lovely sight and sound, it always feels like something is missing from the coast when you can’t hear a curlew.  Then redshanks, again more will be on the way but our ringed plover suddenly seemed to be spending lots of time chasing off redshank from their territory. 

Then some very colourful turnstones, almost peachy, with stark black and white head markings, which will fade in the weeks to come. 

Turnstone in summer plumage

Ringed plover flocks too dropping in to our ringed plover nesting sites, you can be sure that the resident birds were not impressed. 

Plus, some dunlin with their bright summer plumage and dark belly patch. 

In addition, we’ve already seen feeding flocks of sanderling zipping along the edge of the water and golden plover appearing again in those age-old roost locations, like Beacon Point, Newbiggin.  

I was really pleased yesterday to see our first grey plover, in near perfect breeding plumage, black cheeks running all the way down the chest to the belly, flanked by white with an incredibly spangled black and white mixture on it’s wings and back.   

All of this has happened in the course of just over a month, almost the time needed to fledge a ringed plover chick, and the birds are still in motion. Some of our birds are still to arrive back – Stag Rock at Bamburgh without purple sandpiper currently seems like a very still and quiet place, but it won’t be long until it is bustling with life once more. 

Migration is something almost beyond my comprehension, millions of birds all on the wing, heading to their own place, following the flock or following their instincts, a global event where all things are moving to their own rhythm.  

Now that we are able to know the birds as individuals thanks to GPS tracking and bird ringing we are able to gain thrilling insights. 

A friend of Space for Shorebirds and a committed observer of nature recently passed on details of a ringed bird he observed.  A sanderling with a colour coded leg ring at Beacon Point, having looked up the bird on the European colour-ring birding website the organiser of that bird ringing scheme was contacted – in Greenland! 

The location of the colour ringed sanderling

Red pin where ringed – blue dot where observed  (credit:googlemaps)

The word came back almost instantly, yes we ringed that bird and almost a month ago it was sitting on eggs on the north east coast of Greenland. It’s nest must have been predated (maybe by an artic fox) otherwise it would still have been with it’s chicks. Where will that bird go next, will it spend the rest of the autumn and winter in Northumberland or will it head further south – maybe even to the southern tip of Africa?  Some sanderling can travel over 25,000 miles a year!   

We can help them with this huge effort by giving them space to feeding and rest, watching from a distance and wondering in awe where they are heading.