Today at Minsmere was a good example of the number of different species of wader that can be seen at certain times of the year when they are migrating through or from this country. It seems to me that when the birds are passing through in the spring they don't stay long and instead hurry on to their breeding grounds but in the late summer and autumn they seem to hang around here probably restocking their energy levels after the breeding season. On the wader trail I saw several Snipe along with adult and juvenile Redshanks, Common Sandpipers and Wood Sandpipers and a few Black Tailed Godwits still in summer plumage. Below is a photo of 3 Snipe taken at quite a distance hence the poor quality.
Moving on to the scrape more Godwits could be seen along with 5 Greenshanks, a couple of Green Sandpipers, 2 Sanderlings, several Dunlin and a group of about 20 Spotted Redshank. Also at the back of the scrape I could see 3 Ringed Plovers but they were too far away to see if they were the much less common Little Ringed Plovers. Constantly moving around were varying numbers of Little Gull which seem to congregate here for a few weeks each year after breeding in Northern Europe and Russia. Below are pictures of a Wood Sandpiper and a group of Little Gulls once again both taken at a distance.
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