Waders on the seawall 2

 In the absence of any wrynecks I have had lots of opportunities to look for waders in channel view bay.

My actual success depends on where they are when I happen to visit and what happens to have roosted here rather than elsewhere in the estuary.

The flock roost depends to a certain amount on the height of the high tide plus of course whether I have judged it exactly correctly on the day.

Its mostly small waders at this time of year and they can be on the mud

in the grass beyond the path

Or on the seawall itself

The species to search for in particular in early autumn are Sanderling, Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper which are all difficult-to-impossible in the spring.

This last fortnight has been very good with all three species giving themselves up over the course of 8 to 12 visits and being tame enough to photograph

Sanderling

Little Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

In addition I have seen the odd Knot fly past (the bigger waders with the whitish rumps in the pic below)

And have been treated to close up views of Dunlin

Every few years a rarer wader turns up but nothing so far. Without doubt I will keep looking as a major part of rarity finding is persistence. In my opinion its about as valuable as talent but not as useful as being in an excellent area. Others are fully entitled to disagree !