Redcar

Greater sand plover

It's been a quiet August so I thought I'd go on a twitch. There's been a greater sand plover on Redcar beach this past few days and there's an hourly train from Manchester to Redcar that's less than three hours' (not exactly cheap) ride so off I went. The journey up was a tad fraught because it was only half the usual number of carriages and it gets very busy indeed between Manchester and Leeds but the rest of the journey was very nice indeed.

Juvenile great black-backs

It's only a short walk from Redcar Central to the beach. The plover had been reported first thing at the Eastern end of the beach so I headed that way just in time to bump into a few people heading West. A line of birdwatchers a mile in the distance showed the bird's current location.

A line of birdwatchers 

I wandered thataway, taking the opportunity to check to see what was on the rocky outcrops on the tideline. Gulls — black-headed and herring — loafed and squabbled, cormorants dried their wings and oystercatchers prised mussels off the rocks. A small fishing boat had just beached and was being towed  up to the promenade by a tractor, leaving behind a few fish heads eagerly snapped up by a bunch of great black-backs.

Great black-backs

I reached the line of birdwatchers in time to spot two plovers having a fight in the middle of some beached seaweed. One was larger and paler than the other, for a moment I was worried that I'd sighted my target only to have it chased off by a ringed plover. As it happened I needn't have worried, the two birds settled back down again, the ringed plover feeding on a stretch of seaweed about twenty yards ahead of us, the greater sand plover further out towards the tideline. It showed really well, a lovely little bird, but was a devil to try and photograph as it was very active, scurrying and dashing to and fro across the weed. Compared to the ring plover it was slightly larger and chunkier with significantly longer legs; its back was a warm sandy brown and, most conspicuously, the breast band was broad and bright rusty orange. A very delightful little bird.

Greater sand plover and black-headed gulls

Greater sand plover

Greater sand plover and black-headed gull

I caught some movement in the corner of my eye. A couple of common gulls were loafing on a rocky outcrop which had accumulated a lot of seaweed debris. A sanderling and a turnstone were busy feeding in here, often disappearing as they burrowed into the weed.

Sanderling

I'd spent a while admiring the sand plover and decided to walk up the beach awhile. It had been very cloudy when I arrived (it had been pouring down when we passed through Middlesbrough) but there was a stiff breeze coming in straight from the Baltic (and cutting straight through the bladder) that broke the clouds up and gave odd moments of bright sunshine.

There were more herring gulls and black-headed gulls. Small groups of sanderlings, never more than a handful, skittered around like clockwork mice, paying no heed to tide, person or, indeed, galloping horses.

Sanderling

Sanderling

I tried a bit of seawatching with no conspicuous success: more gulls and cormorants, a common tern and a couple of Sandwich terns. It was worth a go, though, this was my first visit here and I wasn't sure what to expect. As it was, it was a very pleasant walk, the birdwatching was good even though there wasn't a lot of variety to it, and I got another addition to the life list. Not a bad day's work.

Redcar Beach