Losing the battle

Robin H Harrison reports on the tragedy of waders, and the difficult struggle faced by the geese in East Norfolk during the hard winter

- Robin H Harrison

Although the severe winter took such a heavy toll on bird life, it also supplied the birdwatcher, wildfowler and naturalist alike with a mass of interesting observations, as the great struggle between wildlife and the severe frost dragged on and it became more and more apparent that for many of our birds, waterfowl in particular, it had been a losing battle.

Some species of birds seemed quite unable to break away from their normal habitat, or to adapt themselves to circumstances and try to seek a living elsewhere. Foremost among these were the small wading birds, such as the dunlin, redshank and knot. For example, on 14 January I picked up 27 redshank lying dead along the tidemark on Breydon Water, and two days later 44 more were found. Scores of dunlin and knot had also suffered a similar fate.

Several of these small waders were found crouching on the frozen saltings in what appeared to be normal resting positions, but when touched they just rolled over. They had frozen to death in their sleep.

All these small waders rely strictly on estuary feeding, obtaining their food when conditions are normal by probing the soft ooze for small marine life, but when the salt flats become frozen over they seemed quite unwilling to leave the frozen waters of the estuary.

Throughout the severe winter, I was fortunate to have the opportunity of watching the many different species of grey geese — the whitefronts, the pinkfeet and the bean geese — that had wintered in this corner of Norfolk.