A Late January Visit to Two Tree Island

30th January 2025

Time for another visit to Two Tree Island to see how the high tide roost is developing. Today we arrived at Monty's Lookout 2.5 hours before high tide so not too surprising there were very few waders on the lagoon. There was however a small group of Teal with the males indulging in a bit of courtship display, trying to attract the attention of the females.

There were also a few Wigeon but very few compared to the estuary. Wigeon are normally grazing duck but here they seemed to be finding some tasty morsels in the muddy margins of the islands.

Always a few Shelduck like this juvenile which is just moulting into its adult plumage..................

.....................compared to this full adult.

Time for a chill-out and preen.

I went several years without seeing Brent Geese on the lagoon, but this winter it seems to be getting more common.

There are normally a few Redshank around at all times of the day although their numbers are swelled at high tide.

Grey Plovers do wait for high tide to fly in but tend to keep to themselves rather than roost in a flock.

But the first for me today was when this Curlew flew in, which in itself is quite unusual, but then promenaded right in front of the hide.

Just how good is that?

But then the action started and the first wave of Dunlins flew in. They are always the first to arrive presumably because of their size, so are the first to get pushed off the mud by the rising tide.

Several hundred birds here.

Then later on came the main contingent, the Knot, which must have eventually been in their thousands.

And then settle down for a few hours sleep over the high tide while the mud is covered.

It always amazes me how these high tide roosts change in composition during the winter. First of all I know for a fact that yesterday there were twice as many waders present as today. So why was that?

Also the Black-tailed Godwits seem to be abandoning this part of the estuary. A few years ago they were by far the most common wader here with numbers in the high hundreds. However this winter they have struggled to get into double figures, and today there wasn't a single one.

Also on our last couple of visits there have been 200+ Ringed Plovers, but again today not a single one. I wonder where they have gone!!!