Durham Bird Club at 50

The county avifauna, The Birds of Durham (Bowey and Newsome, 2012) records that “A public meeting in late 1974 at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery to discuss bird watching and recording was well-attended. This was followed on 8 January 1975 by another meeting and enrolment for membership of the Durham Bird Club began shortly afterwards.”

We shall be organising various projects and events during the year to commemorate this special anniversary. These include a "Bird of the Week" feature, appearing below.

Bird of the Week - Week 38

Common Sandpiper – Bobbing by the Water’s Edge

(Photo by Mark Harper)

Few birds are as easy to recognise by behaviour as the Common Sandpiper. Small, neat and pale-bellied, they patrol the edges of rivers, lakes and reservoirs with a distinctive, constant bobbing motion – almost as though they’re keeping time with the ripples at their feet. When flushed, they flick low across the water with stiff, shallow wingbeats, calling a sharp “wee-wee-wee” as they go.

In County Durham, Common Sandpipers are summer breeders, with pairs returning each spring to our rivers and upland reservoirs. They nest close to the water, often hidden in bankside vegetation or tucked into a scrape on the ground. By September, most breeding is complete, and many birds are now on the move, joined by passage migrants heading south from further north.

Right now is a great time to look out for them, moving along the shores of rivers, reservoirs and gravel pits across the county.

They’re small but full of character, always busy, never still for long.

Have you spotted one bobbing along a shoreline recently, or perhaps surprised one into flight as you walked by the water’s edge?

More information on Common Sandpipers

E-mail: admin@durhambirdclub.org.uk

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