Beached Bird Survey

Sanderling

Today, I finally got round to doing my beached bird survey along the Aberavon Sands from the Neath River down to the Avon River. It is pleasing to report that I found no beached birds or any signs of oil. The only thing littering the shoreline today were the Sanderlings. They can be found along this stretch in every month of the year but the best time to see them is during the winter. When I did this survey last year I had a very healthy count of 529 Sanderling along this stretch; not quite so many today with only 297 counted. They are often found in good numbers here and I have been guilty of overlooking them regularly, so it was nice to have an opportunity to watch them at close quarters today. Their busy nature is often used as a clue to their identity when observing them from distance but this same frantic behaviour also seems to make them well suited to dealing with a busy beach.

Sanderling