Seymour Birdies Diary: A Day on the Beach at Walton-on-the-Naze

19th September 2025

It's that time of year when the school holidays are over, autumn is kicking in and waders start returning to their winter quarters, so time for a visit to the beach at Walton-on-the-Naze. The best part of visiting the beach at this time of year is that you are greeted by huge colourful clumps of Sea Rocket.

Also at this time of year you might be lucky enough to find the odd Wheatear. Today there were two, but possibly freshly arrived and very skittish so only one pose.

The first waders we encountered were a small flock of some 12 Turnstones. Turnstones are regular here during the winter months and will increase in numbers significantly over the next few weeks.

Higher up the beach in the sand dunes large numbers of Ringed Plovers, with a few Dunlin thrown in, were gathering for the high tide roost.

Ringed Plovers breed in the dunes here in the summer and this photo shows an adult in the foreground with a juvenile behind.

They are also very photogenic posing with some seaweed.

Dunlins were also very numerous and can be quite confiding.

There must have been at least a couple of hundred here, but it only takes one to get spooked and they all go giving some great opportunities for flight shots.

Also a synchronised flying display.

Also a few Sanderling, but still just a few compared with the expected numbers later in the autumn/winter, and as usual never far from the surf. One of my favourite waders.

And now for some less usual species, starting with a single Bar-tailed Godwit. In my experience here over the years godwits are quite scarce, and on the few occasions they are present generally Bar-tailed in small numbers, just one or two.

And this one, a Curlew Sandpiper, was a first for me on this beach.

But the star of the show today was this Whimbrel which was the first bird we saw after climbing down on to the beach. I only caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye as it diappeared into the vegetation, but suspected it was a Whimbrel purely on size. After a few minutes it walked calmy out of the vegetation and onto the saltmarsh allowing a few shots to be taken, probably the closest I have ever been to a Whimbrel.