Red Knot

But it's not red, I hear you cry! True, although there are glimpses of red plumage on this rather confiding Knot that was present at Frampton Marsh today. The bird was on its own, quite happily feeding close to the path and giving me extremely good views. The numbers of this bird will now start to increase in The Wash area as they arrive from their breeding grounds in the north to spend the winter here.

The Knot is a familiar sight to birdwatchers in this country, hundreds of thousands of these birds spend the winter on our shores and they do so in rather drab, grey plumage. However, in their breeding finery they are a rich, brick red colour (giving the bird its full name of Red Knot), some of which remains on this bird on its belly, as is shown on the photo below.

Get Knotted

If you visit North Norfolk at this time of year you are more than likely going to see some Knot, thousands of them. So, it was unusual to see this individual on the beach at Titchwell. It seemed unaware of my presence and just continued feeding all on his own!

This birds` full name is Red Knot as in its` breeding finery its` plumage is a lovely red colour. You do sometimes get to see these birds in their red dress just before they fly to their breeding grounds in May and when they first arrive back in August, but the more common appearance is this grey colouration.

Not just Knot

At this time of year huge numbers of wading birds descend on our shores in Britain to spend the winter months. They come in their thousands, none more so than the Knot. At least 300,000 of these birds are thought to over-winter here and a visit to any of our major estuaries will get you views of this lovely little wader. The photo above shows a small flock of these birds, although there are other species mixed in, can you spot them? (click on the photo to make it bigger)

Knot breed in the Arctic and those that we see in Britain and Ireland mostly breed in Arctic Canada. They arrive in August and then start to make they way back in May. The oldest Knot survived for over 16 years. A useless piece of information is, that they are supposed to be named after King Canute (or Knut to give him his proper name), he of the turning back the tides fame, because of their tendency to be seen on the shoreline. Other birds are to be seen on the shore, so I don`t really know why the Knot was chosen?

Another bird that arrives on our shores is the humble Dunlin. These birds do breed in Britain, some 9,500 pairs, but birds from Iceland, northern Europe and Russia arrive in the autumn to spend the winter in slightly warmer climes. These birds bring the wintering population to over 700,000 individuals.

A visit to any estuary during our colder months will give you fantastic views of large numbers of differing species, a very highly recommended day out. Go at high tide to give the best chance of close views, but when you are looking at flocks of several thousand, you don`t need to be too close to witness this spectacle of nature.