Turnstone

What am I?

I am a small wading bird.

Where do I come from?

Me and my buddies come to the Solent every winter from northern Greenland and Canada. We join other Turnstones that stay here all year round (lazy birdies!).

A bit about me

We feed on the shore turning over stones, pebbles and seaweed to look for insects, crustaceans and shellfish to eat. At low tide you can see us in flocks busily searching for food along the shore. Listen out for the noise of us rummaging around.

At high tide you will see us roosting on harbour walls, jetties and boats. We are resting up and waiting for the tide to go back out so we can carry on eating.

We get a lot of attention from people around the Solent as we are quite tame so you can get quite close to us.

Conservation status

I’m amber listed in the UK

I’m a qualifying feature for the Chichester and Langstone Harbours Special Protection Area – that means, when the site was designated, a nationally significant number of us used these awesome coastlines in the winter.