Sunderland Point....Curlew Sandpipers

Last week I made a couple of visits to Sunderland Point on the Lune estuary.I hadn't visited this isolated part of Lancashire for a long time.I had been encouraged to go there following reports of a good number of curlew sandpipers being seen.Tide tables have to be scrutinised carefully before visiting Sunderland Point as the road in is regularly covered by high tides and is impassable.The high tide was around lunchtime so arrival times had to be around 2-3pm when the tide was receding and the road in could be safely navigated

I duly arrived as the tide was going out revealing mudflats rich in food for the waiting wading birds.The curlew sandpipers soon put in an appearance and began feeding in earnest along a few hundred yards of the very muddy area in front of the parking area by the toilet block.The sandpipers were accompanied by redshanks and dunlin but for this posting I have shown mainly images of curlew sandpipers.I will probably return at some future date to obtain more images of the other visitors to this lovely and peaceful estuary of the river Lune.Along with one or two other birdwatchers we counted somewhere between 15-20 sandpipers present on this part of the estuary.

The curlew sands were all juvenile birds which had arrived recently from the breeding grounds in the far north of Russia and were stopping over to take on fuel for their long journey south to their winter quarters in Africa.Hope you enjoy my images of these lovely waders and I will return soon with more from my travels. Thanks for looking in.