While birding at Cley, Norfolk, on the afternoon of 8th November 1993, I visited the beach to check if there was any movement offshore. No sooner had I arrived in the Coastguards' car-park than I was approached by Joe Johnson, whose perplexed expression and interrogative tone quickly revealed that he had seen a bird which was puzzling him greatly. Luckily, it was a wader feeding in the Half-moon pool, adjacent to the carpark, and it was still there. Like Joe, I was nonplussed by the bird; at first glance, it looked like nothing on earth! It did not seem to be a Dunlin or a Purple Sandpiper, but nor was it a rarity known to either of us.
In failing light, we summoned Steve Gantlett, a Questar and a copy of Shorebirds. Steve too was taken aback by this odd wader. Rock Sandpiper was mooted, discussed and dismissed, leaving Purple Sandpiper and Dunlin the only real candidates, even though it looked like neither!
Eventually, with a little encouragement, the bird flew a short distance and called - it was surely a Dunlin after all.
But what a Dunlin! It had solidly grey fore-parts ending in a distinct pectoral band, but with dark streaks extending along the flanks. And it was very big. A quick glance at Shorebirds (and, on returning home, the Macmillan Guide to Shorebirds of the North Atlantic) and the puzzle seemed solved - the largest race of Dunlin (the North American hudsonia) was apparently the only race with flank streaks, so that provided a convenient answer - for the time being at least....
The Half-moon pool is a small shingle-fringed pool, and the bird generally fed belly-deep in the water. However, sometimes it crept, rather furtively, out onto the shingle to feed with the two or three Turnstones which were invariably present. Here it fed in a slow deliberate fashion, with a crouching gait, pecking at the gravel. When disturbed, it generally flew over the shingle beach and presumably fed along the shoreline, since it was only ever seen a couple of times on the adjacent Eye field pools, where small numbers of Dunlin were normally present. It seemed to shun the company of Dunlins, however, preferring to feed on the Half-moon pool, which it shared with a Redshank, a few Turnstones and a pair of Mute Swans.
Plate 1: first-winter wader Calidris sp., Cley, Norfolk, November 1993 (Robin Chittenden*)
Plate 8: mystery wader with Turnstone Arenaria interpres, Cley, Norfolk, November 1993 (Robin Chittenden*). Note the size.
On the brief occasion it visited the Eye field (when its favoured pool was flooded), it was seen to be considerably larger and heavier than all the Dunlins - being perhaps closer in size to the Turnstones - and niggling doubts continued to plague many of the birders who saw the bird (which remained on and off until the month's end).
The rather short-legged, attenuated appearance (especially when out of the water), the protruding tail, broad dark rump, odd face pattern and generally dark plumage all rendered it a rather extraordinary bird.
Furthermore, the legs and feet appeared peculiarly fleshy, and were seen to be not black, but a dull grey-green with a purplish-flesh sheen, while the bill, though rather long, was very deep at the base.
Undoubtedly the bird was a first-winter -although having moulted its body feathers (including all the mantle feathers and scapulars), it had retained its juvenile wing-feathers, which were very contrastingly patterned (as can be seen in the accompanying photographs). The call seemed to vary in pitch, being often rather short and gruff, and occasionally uttered as a double note.
So what was it? The hudsonia race of Dunlin should be a long-legged, rather rangy bird but, apart from the flank streaks, should look just like our familiar Dunlins. Purple Sandpipers should have orange legs and a pale base to the bill. Rock Sandpiper (according to literature) is a very variable species, but it is meant to call like a Purple Sandpiper.
In these days of precise and increasingly confident identification skills, it is a sobering thought that a wader can be watched at such close range, for so long and by so many observers, yet still defy the rules and mystify the experts. Maybe this bird was a Dunlin x Purple Sandpiper hybrid? Such a hybrid has never been recorded before, but it does seem a convenient solution, and not beyond the realms of possibility. At any rate, further comments are welcome....
Plate 9: first-winter wader Calidris sp., Cley, Norfolk, November 1993 (Robin Chittenden*). A new bird for the world?
Another six colour photographs of this interesting bird appear in the original Birding World article (in issue Volume 7 Number 2), which is still available. To order a copy, email: sales@birdingworld.co.uk
* For the use of these or any of his many other bird photographs, Robin Chittenden, the photographer, may be contacted direct on tel. 01603 633326.