The Arctic visitor at home on ‘messy’ British beaches
BEACHES, MUCH LIKE LAWNS AND ROAD verges, fall victim to a peculiarly British obession with tidiness. Piles of seaweed along the strandline are seen as unsightly, so are cleared away, when in fact they represent a valuable habitat for species such as the turnstone, a chunky wading bird that does exactly what it says on the tin.
With a strong bill and neck adapted to stone-turning, it rummages through heaps of rotting seaweed like a bargain hunter at a jumble sale. Every now and again, the bird flips over a stone or bit of weed to reveal a sandhopper or some other tasty morsel – they eat insects, crustaceans and molluscs.
The turnstone nests on Arctic coasts, with most of those wintering on British shores hailing from Greenland and northern Canada. Perhaps the lack of people in their breeding grounds explains why young birds especially can be incredibly tame, venturing close enough while foraging to be photographed with a smartphone.