If you have been to Frampton Marsh over the last few days you might have heard us talking about the curlew sandpipers. They’re getting a lot of attention at the moment as our reserve is playing host to around 258 of them (I say around as they just won’t sit still to be counted!). Usual highs are around 20-40. They can mostly be seen happily feeding on the scrapes from the 360 hide, though can be found elsewhere. When the 258 were counted it’s worth noting that only three of them were adults, the rest younger birds.
So if you’re not really sure what you’re looking for, they are slightly larger than a Dunlin (about 20cm long) and have a slightly down turned bill, which gives them their name. In their summer plumage they have dark grey upperparts and dark red underparts. The dark red returns to white in the winter. They also have a white eyestripe above the eye.
These birds breed mainly in Siberia and breeding success is hard to measure as nests are over a massive area. Despite this their breeding grounds are actually quite small compared to where they migrate to, going as far as Africa and India, sometimes up to 15,000 km away!
Interestingly numbers of young curlew sandpipers is directly related to numbers of lemmings. This is because lemmings form the main food source for predators in the area, so if there aren’t enough lemmings, they’ll go after the curlew sandpipers instead. In South Africa where they are found in larger numbers they have noticed a 40% decline over the last 30 years. This is thought to be due to global warming effects on breeding grounds.
They are very social animals often being seen in large groups often with other waders such as dunlin and their migration route brings them over to west Europe and to the scrapes of Frampton Marsh!
So as you can imagine if you are visiting Frampton Marsh soon there is a very good chance you’ll see a curlew sandpiper or hundred!