Sanderlings at Gunners Park

25th September 2026

After a most successful morning at Two Tree Island, time for a quick visit to Gunners Park for some waders at high tide on the sea wall. But as on all visits, the first task is to count the number of Redshanks roosting on the island in the middle of the lake. They can sometimes exceed 100 in number, but today there were just 40.

So now on to the sea wall to see what waders were roosting there at high tide. I walked south down to the coastguard look-out tower where a small stretch of beach normally remains uncovered by the tide with no waders today. So then walked north to the other end of the reserve and eventually came across two closely-packed flocks of Sanderlings which I conservatively estimated to be collectively 250+ in number.

And here are a few small groups.

And some individuals. The pale birds are adults whereas the darker well-marked birds are juveniles.

Well that was good but no Turnstones or Dunlins today which is a bit of a mystery as both are normally present, and are now both back from their breeding territories.

Perhaps next time.