November 2nd

Another good winter bird to look out for around Crail is the sanderling. These are the small, very white and black waders (mostly looking clean white) that run along the beach at the surf edge like clockwork toys. Sanderling are intrepid migrants breeding in the very high Arctic and that winter on their own piece of beach from the UK all the way down to South Africa. The sanderlings we have with us are all wintering pretty much as far north as they go. We have almost entirely adults here: the juveniles head a further south for an easier life in their first couple of years. Migration dynamics aside, they are a beautiful winter addition to places like Balcomie with their crisp plumage and their enviable energy matching the ceaseless ebb and flow of the waves as they pace them in search of washed up morsels.

A winter flock of sanderling