WADING birds are steadily arriving on estuaries, as they make their way down from the higher ground where they nested, or stop to rest and feed on their slow journey to Africa.
Golden plovers are coming down from the moors and gathering in loose flocks on the shore. Their backs have a golden glow in the sun but look dark in dull weather, and the birds may be hard to pick out against the mud. Most of them still have the black stomach patches of their summer plumage, but these will soon be moulted. Lapwings, or green plovers, are also feeding on the foreshore. The lapwings go up with a slow floppy flight, and their plaintive calls sound over the water, while the golden plovers speed away on sharp, fast-moving wings. Dunlins, which are among the smallest of the waders, run along the tide’s edge, and the tall, black-and-white avocets step delicately across the mud.
On sea walls and in the salt marshes, there are sprawling clumps of wild beet, or sea beet. The tangled stems are crowded with small, knobbly seeds. This is the plant from which beetroot, sugar beet and spinach have been developed by man.
DJM