Hey everyone today's Day 304 and as I went back to Norfolk yesterday with Swallowtail Butterflies, I thought I'd stay there. Specifically, one the Broads. Now, I went on another boat ride on Hickling Broad run by Norfolk Wildlife Trusts (- not Ross's he's on Horsey Mere). It was quite fun and we managed to get to a private hide that you can only access by the boat. While we were there, we saw at least 3 different type of Sandpiper. The one I will be covering today is the Green Sandpiper......But before I do, I want to share a little wildlife story that happened to me today. I witnessed a giant spider terrorising Yorkshire striding through towns and roads! It was moving at a rate of 8 miles a second! It started off by jumping off a web of clouds and straight onto Thirsk. It then walked along the A19 to Ripon before tearing across some countryside to Harrogate and then onto Knaresborough before zooming along the B6106 and startling the people of Northallerton before finally coming to an end at Hartlepool where it fell into the sea.....it was actually a spider that fell onto the map while I was navigating us through some country lanes on the way back from Lake Gormire. But just goes to show you can spot and watch nature just about anywhere!
Anyway...here are the facts on today's post:
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| If there aren't many in the UK we did well to see at least three |
- We were quite lucky to see them in the middle of Summer, as there are only 1-2 breeding pairs in the whole of the UK! Only small numbers are found across the UK at this time of year.
- On top of this though, there are the 910 wintering birds that live here. That's still hardly any at all though!
- The Worlds breeding population is guessed to be about 2.4 million breeding pairs but it has been estimated 1.2 million either side of that number.
- Because of the small breeding number in the UK they are a Amber Status but Birdlife doesn't list them as a species of concern.
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| Looking for bugs |
- They are about 21cm - 24cm and their wingspan is about 29cm. Both Males and Females weigh about 75g.
- In the UK they are found in Winter in the South but they are found a tiny bit on the North and South-West coasts.
- They are usually found on ponds and marshes in the summer. When migrating they like wet grass and mudflats but they also seem to like sewage works in the Winter, probably because they can find their favourite foods there...
- ...Insects (:-) They like to get these of the surface of their feeding grounds and don't probe the ground like some birds
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| Moving closer |
- It seems they like to breed in forests and lay brown or purple spotted eggs in old Crows nests of Squirrel dreys.
- They have one clutch of up to 4 eggs each year.
- They start breeding at two years old and have been known to live over 11 years
Here are some links to some more information:
Hope you enjoyed,
Z.
Lovely find Zach! - Tasha
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