I was over on the coast a lot this last week (see upcoming posts), and while dodging some seriously huge waves on the Brigg (at Filey), a group of Turnstones appeared, hardily braving the conditions as only Turnstones can.
Always a pleasure, and my main motivation for descending the slope and tolerating the spray was indeed waders, and more specifically those in breeding plumage, en route to the Arctic.
So far so good, with some cracking, vibrant, orange, black and white birds looking resplendent against the dark rocks and white horses. But then, this beauty appeared...
... also in breeding plumage, but partially leucistic to boot, and absolutely stunning because of it (as I'm sure you'll agree). Happily, the loose flock were unconcerned by my presence, and I spent a long time with them before I moved on (in the hope of breeding plumage Purple Sandpipers - see next post), allowing for lots of enviable photo opportunities.
I posted shortly after on Facebook, mainly just to share the joy of such a cool bird, but also to flag it up in case:
Lo and behold, an hour or two later, and I got these fascinating replies, revealing where the bird had spent the winter - Northern France, to be precise:
Meanwhile, over on Bluesky (I quit the dumpster fire of what used to be Twitter for obvious reasons a few months ago)...
.... 48 hours later and the bird is again on its way north along the North Sea coast!
A testament to the lovely, collective, community strengths of social media, so easy to overlook in these dark times; I have to confess, I absolutely
love this stuff - age old migration magic, illuminated by modern communications; righteous! So where next for this little stunner? Stay tuned, maybe there's more to come....
