Every now and again I get a distant sighting of a bird at Crymlyn Burrows that I think is going to be a Peep. Today's Red Herring was the best one yet. Scanning the small wader flock, at this site, from distance has it's advantages in that the birds are normally easier/quicker to check for something unusual, and also much easier to take site counts. I digress. Anyway, this bird, feeding actively amongst the small wader flock, jumped out and slapped me in the face! Small! It was noticeably smaller than an average sized Dunlin! Other things like lack of tramlines and lacking a split supercillium seemed to add hope. Things like a heavily streaked chest, not much of a supercillium at all and a buff colour near the throat only added confusion.
On closing the distance to the bird I was unable to get past Dunlin and on it's own, with no other bird in the scope view, it was very good for Dunlin, only when it was alongside other Dunlins did the pulse quicken.
Looking at the lengths given for Dunlin in the Collins it shows 17cm to 21cm; an impressive range for such a small wader. I suspect this bird was even smaller still than 17cm.
Hopefully, one day, when I close the distance it won't be a Dunlin....
Common Scoter (4), Oystercatcher (570), (Ringed Plover (237), Sanderling (368), Dunlin (68), Bar-tailed Godwit (15), Curlew (12), Great Black-backed Gull (23) and an Auk sp
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