Sanderling

Above: Sanderling (winter)
Below: Knot (winter)

Below: Dunlin (winter)

The sanderling is yet another wader that visits Britain primarily in the winter. It is only found around the coast where there are large sandy beaches that are relatively undisturbed. The North West has several suitable locations at the North Wirral Coast, Southport, Lytham St Anne's and Morecambe Bay areas.

Inexperienced bird watchers may initially find it difficult to distinguish the sanderlings from the knots and dunlins that share the sandy beaches with them, but in actual fact, it's easy to tell the difference. In winter plumage the sanderling is largely white. The breast is very white with no streaking at all except for a little patch on either side, just below the neck. The head is mostly white with a hint of a dark eye stripe, the beak short straight and black and the legs are jet black. The back shows a delicate pale grey/white mottled pattern. You can see all of these features in the top image on the left.

By comparison, the knot (middle image on the left) is an all-together greyer bird. The back shows a similar grey/white mottled pattern but is more grey and darker than the sanderling. The crown is usually much darker and a bold white eyebrow usually stands out. It is also a much larger bird than the sanderling and instead of the jet black legs has greenish grey legs. The breast is also not plain white, with heavy streaking almost like chevrons which gradually reduce in number but are still present along the flanks.

The Dunlin on the other hand (bottom image on the left) is more of a pale brown bird rather than grey, although some field guides don't show it this way. It also has a proportionally longer beak that is not straight but curves downwards slightly. It has some streaking on the breast but only the upper breast and the streaks are more like lines rather than chevrons.

In flight all three are fairly similar having bold white wing bars and black tails edged with white.

Of course, in summer all three of these birds look very different. The sanderling develops a little more heavy streaking on the upper breast and this, the head and back develop a warm, darkish buff wash. The grey of the winter birds back becomes much darker, almost black.

All of the places listed above are good places to try to see sanderlings in winter. They start arriving as early as August with the majority present from around October to May. Odd stragglers may linger into June. In the later months leading up to departure, you may spot some in their summer outfits. On beaches you'll usually find them busy feeding along the edge of the advancing or retreating tide, so long as it isn't too rough. At high tide they usually find some rocks or land close to the edge of the high tide point to roost on.

As for photography, I've found the North Wirral coast to be the best place that I've visited for photographs. I'm sure the Sefton and Fylde would probably also be good. My particularly favourite spot (and where the top picture on the left was taken) is Wallasey life-guard station. I've often found good numbers of Sanderling roosting on the rocks just below the life-guard station at high tide, often in the company of dunlin, turnstones and the occasional purple sandpiper or redshank. From the sea wall it's possible to get close photographs without the birds feeling any apparent disturbance. Of course, it's also fun to photograph them feeding in the waves at the tides edge. By approaching carefully and slowly they will allow you to get close enough for a reasonable shot if you have a long telephoto lens or fancy having a go at digiscoping (although they are possibly a little too active for the latter).