They’re naming the new hide at RSPB Snettisham “Knots Landing” in honour of the bird, Calidris canutus, that flocks in vast numbers in and out over The Wash there with each turning tide.
The bird is named for King Canute (it’s not a long way from ca-nute to k-not and then dropping the k, in Dutch they’re called “Kanoeten”) because these medium-sized waders, which breed in the tundra and the Arctic Cordillera of Canada, Europe, and Russia will whoosh from the mudflats and sandbanks as the tide rises until they are ankle deep at high tide periodically forming vast flocks that shapeshift across the skies.
We visited on the third weekend of October 2018, catching the late afternoon high tide on a clear day that ended with a glorious sunset and seeing flocks of several thousand Red Knots. There were a couple of thousand Oystercatcher there too and perhaps 1000 or so Golden Plover, not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of Pink-footed Geese that leave behind their feeding grounds and head out to sea to roost at dusk safe from terrestrial predators.
Sometimes entangled in your own dream…knots…you can find the non-avian sunset photos on my Imaging Storm site.
