High Tide - Not

 Monday August 26

Bank Holiday weekends in North Norfolk, coinciding with very high tides at Snettisham, are not an attractive combination. We avoided the main crowds by taking the inland route, driving directly to Snettisham Reserve. The RSPB's very popular 'Snettisham Spectaculars' had taken place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Parking places need to be booked, and birders come from far and wide. 

Our first sight of the water is when we crest the hill leading out of the chalet park, always a much anticipated view. Today's high tide was 'only' 6.3, low after the previous three days' 7 metres plus. At 7 metres the water covers the wash entirely so that the hundreds of thousands of birds are forced to find somewhere else to roost. Many of them crowding the islands and banks of the reserve pits. To-day, the vast majority were massed on the northern shore of the Wash, in Lincolnshire.  

Seeing empty, gently lapping water, tufts of Samphire showing through, we drove to the hides end of the pit, from which one can distantly view the western banks. This is what we saw.

 


 

A dark mass of Oystercatchers at the forefront, brown Godwits behind.


The sky full of restless Knot. A recent WEBS count estimated 40,000 Knot already here.

 The water leaves this end of the wash first, we returned to park at the chalet end. Now I could see that the empty shoreline had a monochrome necklace of mainly sleeping waders, the soft dove grey of winter Sanderling backs, the majority, dapper little Ringed Plovers scattered throughout with occasional Dunlin and Turnstone. I scanned the birds ceaselessly hoping for a view of one of the White-rumped Sandpipers seen on the reserve over the last week. Two were seen at the eastern end before high tide this morning.


I didn't manage to find one, but I did find a lovely juvenile Little Stint and a Yellow Wagtail. We always miss the spring passage of the latter when we are in Scotland.

The tide ebbs as fast as it rises. We drove home by the inland route again. The roads were very busy, but we'd missed most of the traffic.




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