Nature in the Heart of England: Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland: Waders in close-up

A long-weekend based in Portballintrae, near Bushmills, provided an excellent opportunity for me to spend some quality time with waders along the rocky and sandy shorelines of the stunning "Causeway Coast". It was brilliant to sit quietly on the beach and amongst the black basaltic rocks and watch the waders going about their business of feeding and roosting. Every day the collection of wading birds - mostly Sanderlings, Ringed Plovers, Turnstones, Oystercatchers and Redshanks - were in a different place, utilising a different food supply or choosing a new site to roost. This was often linked to the state of the tide and the level of human disturbance at favoured places - particularly on the small beach on the seafront.

two adult Ringed Plovers

On the first morning (Friday 21 Sept) I snuck myself down on the beach and waited to see if the small group of Sanderlings and Ringed Plovers that had gathered together in the corner of the beach might make their way towards me. Sure enough, a bold group of juvenile Sanderlings started to run towards me, and one individual made short flight to within a couple of metres and continued feeding.

juvenile Sanderling, now very close!

the gathering of Sanderlings and Ringed Plovers in the corner of Salmon Rock Beach

It was great to see a good number of juveniles because in some parts of Greenland, their breeding season was severely disrupted by very late snow covering their nesting grounds.

juvenile Sanderling, even closer!

these two adult Sanderlings stayed further away on the rocks

Later in the morning we took a walk along the coast to the world-famous Giant's Causeway.

Crowds enjoying the unique basalt rock "patio" of the Giant's Causeway.

The columns are showing signs of smoothing through constant footfall

Of course the Causeway is a massive visitor attraction and was packed with hundreds of tourists, but not far away a large group Rock Pipits and Pied Wagtails were busy feeding amongst piles of rotting seaweed just a few metres from a steady passage of walkers. In a few minutes I'd captured some nice images.

Rock Pipit at the Giant's Causeway

A little further out a single Curlew sat quietly on the edge of the rocky platform, large waves breaking behind, and Gannets flying past. Sadly, Curlews are now a rare breeding bird in Ireland following a catastrophic decline of 90% in the past 40 years; so this bird may well have originated from breeding areas in Scotland.

Curlew

Dramatic seascapes, looking to the west from Portballintrae

Later in the afternoon I returned to the Portballintrae wader haunts. Now, the Sanderlings and Ringed Plovers had settled on a sandy point where the river Bush (of Bushmills fame) enters the sea. Gulls also gathered at the rivermouth for a wash and preen. Adult and juvenile Common Gulls predominated, with a few Black-headed, Herring and a single first year Mediterranean Gull.

Common Gulls behind the roosting waders

First winter Mediterranean Gull, front, with first winter Common Gull behind.

I carefully made my way to the back of the beach and tucked myself in to watch the waders. Some were sheltering from the fresh breeze behind boulders, others were darting about feeding.

Adult Sanderlings

Adult Sanderlings and juvenile Ringed Plover

juvenile Ringed Plover

beautiful juvenile Sanderling

adult Ringed Plover

I'd had a great time photographing the birds for some minutes before I became aware of a bright blue marking suddenly "leaping out" at me from the subtle hues of brown and grey. I soon realised what I was seeing - two blue colour rings, both on the leg of one of the roosting adult Sanderlings. I knew I'd have to wait for it to start walking around before I would be able to see the colour rings on the other legs. Then it started to move and I got a glimpse of yellow, but it determinedly hopped about on it's blue-ringed leg and it was impossible to see the full combination. Several minutes elapsed before it started running around and I captured a good image showing all the details.

first view of the blue colour rings

eventually - the full combination - including a green "flag" ring

Looking up the ring details on line later (AnimalTrack website) that evening I was able to discover that the Sanderling had been ringed in Iceland on 24 May 2017, presumably on migration to Greenland, and had been sighted last winter at both Portballintrae and nearby at Portrush. This autumn it had travelled back from the arctic via North Uist (at Grenitote on 4th August, a place I remember from seeing a Snowy Owl a few years back), before moving on down to Northern Ireland in September. My report was the first of the new winter period, back in what is presumably it's regular winter haunt along the north Antrim coast.

The following afternoon I was pretty tired from the day's main event - running the Causeway Coast Half Marathon - but I managed to get back down to the shore and located the flock of Sanderlings along a tiny stretch of sandy beach. The juveniles were in a feeding group on their own, running along the waters edge, then moving right up to the top of the beach where they probed deep into the loose sand. Again it was just a case of careful positioning, then sit and wait. The birds came straight up to me. They were so busy feeding they were happy to pretty much ignore me. The juveniles seem to be much more fearless than the adults.