The Turnstones which roost at high tide on the tip of Southend Pier are incorrigible. These are birds that breed on the tundra in Arctic Canada and Russia and yet soon as you make an appearance on the pier-head they come charging up the slipway where they are gathered and mill around at your feet, gazing expectantly at you in the hope of a few breadcrumbs or other scraps, much like a flotilla of tame ducks on a park pond. Elsewhere along Southend seafront they have got into the habit of hanging around in pub gardens, where they plod back and forth across the picnic tables on their bright orange-red legs, begging for titbits like portly, black and white sparrows! There is something both incongrous and touching (if you'll pardon the expression) in being accepted as harmless by a bird that spends it summers in two of the last great wildernesses and its winters (normally) foraging among the wave splashed rocks and shores along the British coast.
Your Forum
This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at 
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more