
With a window of time to spend at Pannel Valley on the morning of Sunday 30th, waders were very much on my mind. Thanks to a timely intervention by the management there, wader-friendly water levels are being maintained at the main scrape. It was therefore no surprise to find a nice range of species present, including Ruff (first of the year for me), 2 Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper. The obvious highlight though was finding a Pectoral Sandpiper, a new bird for me but something of a site speciality with 13 records by 2011 in the Pannel/Pett area (data from Birds of Sussex). The ID and aging of this bird presented a bit of learning experience for me so I thought I’d share some notes below.
When the bird first popped out onto a visible expanse of the scrape, the overall impression and my first thought as to its identity was Dunlin. I know this species can be very variable and with nothing nearby to compare it to it didn’t stand out in terms of size. Furthermore getting a good look at plumage detail was challenging as the hide is positioned into the sun in the mornings. About as much as I could ascertain was that the breast streaking appeared quite sharply demarcated. At this point I did toy with fantasies of Pectoral but not having enough to convince myself it was anything other than an weird Dunlin, I decided to grab the best photos I could, put the thought on ice and revisit at home.

Pulling up the photos things started to look a lot more convincing: the breast streaking looked very cleanly demarcated indeed, finishing at a point in the middle, and clean white on the belly below. Furthermore there was a pale orangish base to the bill visible in some photos which was not at all apparent in the field. Other characteristics felt supportive too: there were hints of rufous to the plumage tones, clear white stripes on the mantle/scapulars and the head markings looked good. Not having seen Pectoral before I knew I needed help, so I put it to the RX Birders WhatsApp group and after a bit of back and forth there was general agreement it was indeed a Pectoral. Thanks to JT, CD and DR for their comments.




In summary, here is the full set of characteristics which together support identification of this bird as Pectoral:
- dense, fine streaking on breast with sharply demarcated lower boundary meeting at a central point, clean white belly below;
- wing feathers dark centered with pale fringes showing rufous tones in places;
- pale stripes running through scapular and mantle feathers;
- prominent pale supercilium and dark loral stripe;
- cheek and crown with rufous tones, the latter heavily streaked;
- slight downward curve to bill, with pale yellow-orange coloured base.
Usually a yellowish leg colour would also be useful but both in the field and in photos they appeared quite dark on this bird — probably because they were muddy but certainly not helped by the light. In the photo below you can just about make out a paler orangey colour to the top of the visible leg, a colouration which some July adults seem to show.

With regards aging of the bird, I got carried away on Twitter and declared this a juvenile but some useful comments from Cian Cardiff have convinced me it is in fact an adult. Some ID guides (Collins, WILDGuides) highlight the bold pale feather fringes and white stripes on the scapulars/mantle as marks of juvenile birds. However it seems breeding plumage adults (not illustrated in those books) can show these too. Based on Cian’s comments and some further research, aging as adult is supported by:
- relatively dark and dense streaking on the breast (lighter and sparser in juvenile);
- relatively thin wing feather edges without strong colouration (thicker, brighter and more vividly rufous toned in juvenile);
- wear to feather edges in places resulting in darker appearance (brighter impression in juvenile with bold pale feather edges);
- moult contrast between fresh scapulars (replaced in spring) and worn wing coverts (most evident in photo 4 from the series of 4 above).
The time of year also means that any Pectoral Sandpiper in the UK is more likely to be an adult, with the majority of July and August birds being of that age group.
An amazing little bird which will likely have completed multiple long distance migrations, spanning most of the distance between the poles! Although its migration from Arctic North America and Siberia to South America is relatively well known, there’s still much mystery surrounding the occurrence of Pectoral Sandpiper in the UK. In a 2004 article for British Birds written following a major influx of the species, Lees and Gilroy suggest that rather than all UK occurrences being vagrants, “many of the Pectoral Sandpipers reaching Europe are actually performing a regular and viable migration to established wintering grounds in the Old World”. I’m not sure if further insights have been gained since but looking at eBird records from southern Africa there certainly seem to be birds floating around there throughout the winter months.
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