Lots of small wader food = lots of small waders.......and some good ones too!

Very light east breeze. Overcast but very warm all day. There must have been lots of Saharan sand in the clouds, as a light shower covered everything in fine dust!

South shore (MD)

We have, very quickly, moved back to neap tides, so I walked to the waterline out from the saltmarsh late afternoon as the tide was coming in. On the way out, there were areas where the small sea snails were covering the mud. They are always present, but normally hide just below the mud surface when the tide is out.

This is about a square metre of mud. You can see the density of the snails.

These are the snails, if you look in the bottom left corner it appears greenish, this is the 
algae that I suspect the snails are feeding on.

This is one of the snails. The waders eat them whole, but they normally have to dig for them

This is another section of drier beach, the snails have all attempted to hide in the mud.......

........but the detail shows that some are barely hidden

I suspect that a combination of a quick change from spring to neap tides, leaving much of the mud wet, and the very warm weather allowing the algae to form quickly tempted the snails out to feed, they were only visible in numbers on the wettest sections of the shore.

Mediterranean Gull 7 adult

Shelduck 14

There were a lot of waders on the waterline and many more just resting on the shore, presumably well fed!

Oystercatcher c600

Curlew c200

Bar-Tailed Godwit 121

Grey Plover 22

Knot c300

Redshank 10 

Dunlin c1,000

The tide only comes in slowly on neap tides, but this is the moment, that the wake from the Seatruck reached the shore. You can hear it lapping about my feet and it moves the Godwit, Knot and Dunlin further up the shore.

As I was walking back I noticed a group of small waders feeding on a wet section of shore near the saltmarsh. Sure enough, as I got closer the density of snails was increasing. The group was quite flighty but roughly consisted of. 

Ringed Plover 35

Dunlin 25

Curlew Sandpiper at least 3 juvenile 

Sanderling 1 juvenile 

These are two of the Curlew Sandpiper

Juvenile Curlew Sandpipers

Three juvenile Curlew Sandpipers in this shot (white rumps)

This is the juvenile Sanderling, you can see it, the plovers and Dunlin picking up the snails.

Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that there will be a repeat performance in the same place tomorrow. Today's tide would not wet this area again and the mud here will likely be dry, but other areas should provide opportunities.