Country diary: The salty symphony of waders in autumn | Mark Cocker

Snettisham, Norfolk: The spectacle is magnificent enough, but this time it was the sounds that moved me, of curlews, whimbrels, skylarks and knotsWhen I say the wader roost on the Wash at this RSPB reserve is one of the greatest sights in British nature, it understates one of its central elements: the everyday ordinariness of it. After all, it unfolds once every 12 hours throughout autumn and winter. Go for half a day and you couldn't fail to have an encounter.Each visit is also different. Some friends have been to photograph it on hundreds of occasions, and still they return. It can occasionally be quite flat - the birds, perhaps 250,000 of them, follow the tide's incoming and outgoing, but only slowly, sub?flock by sub-flock; no alarm, no drama or sudden movement, and little adrenaline. Usually, however, it is unforgettable. Continue reading...