WILLIAMSON'S WEEKLY NATURE NOTES

It is also a plump wader that might have been King Canute's favourite table bird at Bosham.

Then there is that other tale that knots sit on the tide edge like Canute, unable to do anything about the water creeping forward. The Oxford English Dictionary says unknown origin.

For what it's worth I favour 'knut'. That curious little call.

Our ancestors noted sounds much more keenly than we today. The double whistle of the cock teal for example started in Holland as 'te-le'. But what's in a name?

The point is that knots are now arriving on our coasts. Pagham and Chichester harbours are favourite places.

The south-east shore of Thorney Island, next to Pilsey Island, is the best bit of mudflat in the county for them. There I have, for 43 years, seen these dull grey waders in their tight flock.

They wheel about in the sky like starlings but flash white undersides in the sun. There you will see dunlin too. But the knots are bigger. If you don't get this size comparison, telling one species from another can be tricky.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette November 14