Turnstones

 I have a soft spot for these little waders because turnstones were one of the few species which could be seen along the promenade at Felixstowe, seeming not to mind the humans and dogs in their search for food. We've seen them here on several occasions though, unlike....

....many of the other waders, such as the oystercatchers, curlews and ringed plovers (above), they are very much birds of passage, moving from their wintering grounds along the British coastline to their breeding grounds in Canada and Greenland - so we'll see a group like this for perhaps a couple of days fuelling up before they're off.

This group of a dozen were just off the beach along the shore near Dunrobin Castle this morning, standing so still on their crowded rock that we were within a few yards before we noticed them.

Normally they are busy doing what they are so aptly named for, poking around in the stones and weed for crustaceans, insects and small molluscs, but these ones simply sat and watched us. I do hope that they aren't already exhausted by their flight north, as they have many thousands of miles still to go, much of it across open and sometimes stormy ocean.