Winter Sanderlings
Throughout the year I make several visits to a location on the south coast in West Sussex. It’s a fantastic place away from the well known birding areas that holds a wealth of species! In a few visits during different seasons each year I would see around fifteen species of wader but the Sanderlings are one that always brings the most excitement when they arrive to spend the winter.
Sanderlings are definitely one of my favourites to photograph here and I’ve had some good sessions down at the edge of the beach. A few small flocks spend the winter here and often fly to feed on the edge of the crashing waves as the tide retreats back. Unlike most waders, they’re surprisingly tame, as long as you don’t rush in too fast and stand up near them. My main approach when photographing these birds is to first watch the direction the flock is moving in. Then, walk ahead of the flock and get down onto the cold sand, while waiting for them to work their way to me! This technique works very well and you can have them within a few feet of your lens.
These photos are all from one visit last winter which proved to be my best encounter with them! It was overcast but that made for some interesting shots, bringing out the bright snow white plumage against the cold wet sand, high key backgrounds from the water and some nice small in the frame compositions were possible.
When the flock eventually gets close enough, I would pick out an individual and focus on that one. However, there was one Sanderling that was surprisingly very aggressive to the others and there was a bit of regular squabbling and managed to capture a bit of the action.
One thing that can be quite frustrating is often the short space of time you have photographing them until a dog comes running down to spook them. This is something that I always had to be aware of as it would then require me start the process of approaching them all over again.
These Sanderlings were fun to work with down at the coast. This year I had a plan of trying to get them in their summer plumage as they head back up to their northern breeding grounds but unfortunately under this current situation I may not get to this spring. Hopefully the summer will bring another opportunity and will definitely head back to this spot on the coast some day soon!