PURPLE SANDPIPERS
My wife wanted to visit Lidl's & Waitrose in Sidmouth this morning so I negotiated 30 minutes at Jacobs Ladder Beach as a part of the trip. Great - 13 Purple Sandpipers in total - 10 feeding on the beach rocks with 14 Turnstones and 2 Rock Pipits, with an additional three on the sea defences 'island' (& there could have been more).
That's the largest count that I've had at this site. For anyone unfamiliar with this site, the optimum timing seems to be 2.5 to 3 hours after high tide when the rocks along the sea wall are exposed and wet. Earlier this week in rough sea conditions with waves breaking over the rocks, there were five P/Sandpipers on the shingle at the town end of the sea wall path.
