Specie's Page                                               Ruddy Turnstone - Small Waders

Ruddy Turnstone:

UK Status: Resident in the UK.

Habitat: This bird is mainly coastal, coming inland by a few miles during the late autumn and winter months. Turnstones as their name suggest turn over stones to find invertibrates living underneath them.

Breeding: This ground breeding bird tends to nest in shallow scrapes on the more isolated parts of beaches. As such they inhabit stony beaches, harbour basins with stony patches in the mud these scrapes are often in gravelly and stony areas, but occasionally on bare sand. The nest scrape is lined with vegetation of some kind, and often placed between clumps of coastal plants. Eggs are glossy and pale brown, mottled with darker colours, and are usually laid in pairs, they hatch within three to three and a half weeks.

Comment: This gorgeously cute little bird is a fairly common sight in harbour basins when the tide is out. I have seen them many times in Bridlington Harbour, in East Yorkshire. We had a cheeky Turnstone at Bridlington recently wandering between peoples feet, feeding on titbits dropped by humans In harbour areas these birds are usually quite used to people being around, and will often come quite close.

BE AWARE PLEASE:  Ground nesting birds are very vulnerable to having their eggs and chicks smashed or crushed. This can happen when people are unaware of their presence, or when dogs are allowed to run loose during the breeding season. Nests are very well hidden, and are not usually spotted until it's to late. Dogs often have no concern for ground nesting birds, please keep them on their leads from April through to the end of September.