View From The Shed by Shaun Finnie - THE WADERS ARE COMING! THE WADERS ARE COMING!

THE WADERS ARE COMING! THE WADERS ARE COMING!

Imagine arriving at the swankiest restaurant in town. The Maître d' directs you to the dining area. “Here we are sir, madame, our finest table.” You settle down to eat and... stuff your face straight into the ankle-deep mud. Seafood surprise is on the menu.

That's the mealtime technique of a wading bird, and many of them are starting to move around the world at the start of their twice-yearly migration. That means that, after months of seeing the same, wonderful birds here at our Dearne Valley reserves, we're getting a few different birds dropping in to sample our shoreline buffet. It's brilliant to see them but they can sometimes be difficult to tell apart from each other. I tend to grade bird identification from one to ten. At the lowest end would be clearly seeing a Mallard out in the open. Dead easy, even a toddler could identify that as a “Duck-Duck”, and frequently does from Old Moor's Family Hide. A ten on the same scale would be trying to spot a single unusual gull in a huge, wheeling flock of immature similar breeds in their Winter colours. It's almost impossible. Believe me; I've tried. Most times, I fail. On the rare occasion when I do manage to spot the rarity, it's because I've resorted to asking a grown-up for help.

So back to waders; some are easily recognisable – perhaps a three on the scale – but others would be at least a seven, maybe higher. They all splash about at the water's edge, digging into the shallows or the soft mud for food. Most are about 20-30cm tall with a few striking exceptions and they tend to be dark on their wings and back but much lighter on the belly, chest and throat. So here's a look at the waders that are currently staying at the Old Moor B&B (at the time of writing, obviously – there may be more or fewer by tomorrow or whenever you read this).

Curlew

There are two things that make Curlews stand out from any other wader. Firstly, they're much bigger than any other bird on this list, being over twice the height and around seven times the weight of a Redshank, and secondly, they have an enormous, downward curling beak that they dig deep into the mud. Once seen, never forgotten, they're an uncommon visitor to our Valley but there has been one here this week.

Dunlin

A little wader with a black blob about the size of a ten pence on its tummy at this time of year. It'll fade away soon enough and its brown back will turn silver, as befits a bird in Winter plumage.

Common Sandpiper

As its name suggests, this is the most common of the Sandpiper family. It's brown on top and its underparts are very clean and white. To help identification it usually has a clear white letter 'C' (for 'common') running from these into the brown feathers of its shoulder (assuming you see it facing to the left – it's reversed from the other side).

Green Sandpiper

Imagine a black and white photo of a Common Sandpiper and you've got a rough idea of what a GreenSand looks like. It has almost no discernable colour in its plumage at all, certainly no obvious green bits. To help with identification, try to see one standing still. It won't be. It's more likely to be nervously bobbing up and down.

Wood Sandpiper

The smallest and least common of the three Sandpipers currently on the reserve. Its dark back can look brindle brown in some lights and it has a very noticeable long white stripe running just across the top of its eye. It's also a bird that I have very little luck in finding. We all have them.

Redshank

'Shanks' is an Old English term for 'legs'. A tall person would have been nicknamed 'longshanks', for example. With this in mind, it should be fairly easy for you to work out why a Redshank is called a Redshank. Once you have an image of a medium sized wading bird with red shanks in your mind, add a sharp, pointy beak of the same bright orange/red colour and you'll never mistake it for anything else - unless you've never seen an Oystercatcher.

Greenshank

This is where it gets confusing. A Greenshank looks exactly like a Redshank but... can you guess? No, you're wrong. It's legs aren't particular green. They're just sort of the colour of nondescript dirty pondweed – that is, they don't stand our as any particular colour. It's bill is just generally dark too. It's feathers are mostly dark on the back and white underneath but nothing about the bird can be seen as a particularly outstanding feature – which, of course, is a recognisable feature in itself.

Little Ringed Plover

Distinguishable from its negligibly-larger cousin, the Ringed Plover, by the addition of a striking golden ring around its eye and a fast, clockwork-style walk. These little dumpy birds are exhausting to watch.

Sanderling

You're much more likely to see Sanderlings at the seaside, following the outgoing waves looking for things left behind by the tide. They have white underparts and their uppers vary from a lovely creamy brown in Summer to a stark silver grey in Winter. They are quite rare inland and we're lucky to have one here. I suspect it won't stay for long.

Ruff

So named because of the magnificent Elizabethan-style ruffed collar that it sports during breeding season. Unfortunately it no longer breeds in England very often due to our rising temperatures. Most of the birds we see in this country have spent their Summers raising chicks up in Scandinavia and are passing through here on their way towards their African Winter base. The way to tell the non-breeding plumage from other waders is that the Ruff's head, chest and neck will be a clean biscuit beige colour.

So there's Volunteer Shaun's Handy-Dandy Guide to Old Moor's Late-Summer Waders. Why not pop down for yourself and see how many you can spot?