SANDERLING Calidris alba
Infrequent passage migrantSeen most years from 1989 to 2003. Most recent sightings:
2006 -
Sanderling is by no means annual, so five records are very welcome, and the minimum six birds seen in total represents the best year since 1996. All the reports came from Thornton Moor Reservoir, by far the area’s most reliable site for the species, and initially there were two birds on 20th May. The remaining sightings occurred in an excellent 12 day period from 27th July, when an adult bird was found, and was still present on the following day. Two birds, possibly including the original one, were there on the 29th, and a different juvenile/1st-winter bird two days later, to be followed by another adult on 7th August.
2007 -
Seen for the second successive year, there were three records, all in May, a typical month for the species. A bird was found at Thornton Moor on the 11th, two were at nearby Lower Laithe Reservoir on the 24th, and Thornton Moor had another the following day.
2009 -
After a blank year, Thornton Moor again turned up birds, with a single on 5th May, two on the 24th, and another on 5th September.
2010 -
In a good year for waders, birds were seen for the second successive year at Thornton Moor. There were two on 29th May, and a single on 19th August.
2011 -
In a productive year, Warley Moor had a near monopoly of the records, all of them, typically, in May. One on the 5th was followed by seven on the 19th, and five on the 22nd. Two on the 21st, and a single on the 23rd may have been part of the larger gatherings. Elsewhere, Thornton Moor had two birds on the 4th, and one was at Leeshaw Reservoir on the 20th.
2014 -
Two birds, the first birds since 2011 were seen on Keighley Moor Reservoir on 16th August, at a time when there was a large amount of exposed shoreline during major redevelopments.