Scandinavian Dunlin
It poured with rain for most of yesterday so the only birdwatching that I managed was a walk round Ingbirchworth Reservoir where this Dunlin was an unusual visitor. They breed on the high blanket bog about 8 miles west of here and they are frequent on some of the high moorland reservoirs, but I rarely see them at Ingbirchworth. But the rain yesterday seems to have grounded quite a few Dunlin, including 26 at Old Moor near Barnsley, about 10 miles to the east.
Most of the coastal wintering Dunlin migrate to Britain from the extensive bogs of Iceland and northern Scandinavia. But there are two regularly-occurring subspecies of Dunlin in Britain (schinzii, alpina plus subspecies arctica; a rare visitor). The British breeders are of the race schinzii, which also breeds in Iceland and eastern Greenland. A different race (alpina) breeds across Scandinavia, which look similar to schinzii, but are a tad larger with longer bills. But they also have grey edges to some of their back feathers in fresh summer plumage which are visible on this bird. These grey-edged feathers are not retained "winter" feathers as seen on young (first summer) birds as they have black centres. The schinzii birds that breed in the Pennines lack grey in the black-centred back feathers as you can see in this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/41143839420/in/photolist So I think this bird is a Fennoscandian bird of the race alpina. These birds moult into breeding plumage a little later than schinzii and the patchy belly patch suggests this bird may still be moulting (though it may be a first year bird). In winter these two races are impossible to tell apart unless you can measure biometrics on trapped birds for ringing. I'm not aware that people have racially identified passage Dunlin on inland sites before but the close views of this bird make me fairly confident it is a nominate race Dunlin (Calidris alpina alpina) en route to its Fennoscandian breeding grounds.
Scandinavian Dunlin
It poured with rain for most of yesterday so the only birdwatching that I managed was a walk round Ingbirchworth Reservoir where this Dunlin was an unusual visitor. They breed on the high blanket bog about 8 miles west of here and they are frequent on some of the high moorland reservoirs, but I rarely see them at Ingbirchworth. But the rain yesterday seems to have grounded quite a few Dunlin, including 26 at Old Moor near Barnsley, about 10 miles to the east.
Most of the coastal wintering Dunlin migrate to Britain from the extensive bogs of Iceland and northern Scandinavia. But there are two regularly-occurring subspecies of Dunlin in Britain (schinzii, alpina plus subspecies arctica; a rare visitor). The British breeders are of the race schinzii, which also breeds in Iceland and eastern Greenland. A different race (alpina) breeds across Scandinavia, which look similar to schinzii, but are a tad larger with longer bills. But they also have grey edges to some of their back feathers in fresh summer plumage which are visible on this bird. These grey-edged feathers are not retained "winter" feathers as seen on young (first summer) birds as they have black centres. The schinzii birds that breed in the Pennines lack grey in the black-centred back feathers as you can see in this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/41143839420/in/photolist So I think this bird is a Fennoscandian bird of the race alpina. These birds moult into breeding plumage a little later than schinzii and the patchy belly patch suggests this bird may still be moulting (though it may be a first year bird). In winter these two races are impossible to tell apart unless you can measure biometrics on trapped birds for ringing. I'm not aware that people have racially identified passage Dunlin on inland sites before but the close views of this bird make me fairly confident it is a nominate race Dunlin (Calidris alpina alpina) en route to its Fennoscandian breeding grounds.