Last of August

Snettisham just after high tide. The massed flocks are mobile on the flats and the breeze is soft. Sanderling, fresh juveniles, spangle on the shingle shore poking under the feet of Oystercatchers and settling into the stones on hte strandline. Way offshore two Arctic Skuas land on the crumpled waves and on the pits, a group of sleeping Spotted Redshank are all that's left of the roost. Overhead, a flock of Sandwich Terns call as they shoot up the coast, only to return moments later and land across the channel. A young Little Tern bounces along the same channel, over the Meditteranean Gulls, the Ringed Plovers and the loafing Shelduck.