Day 275 - Desirable Dunlins

Dunlin (Calidris alpina  ) in breeding plumage

Hey everyone today's Day 275 and as you know I have been to Norfolk and I went on a walk near Cley Marshes on a Shingle Beach to get to Blakney Point. Now, a lot of birds like to nest on Shingle Beaches as they blend in with the rocks. An example of this is yesterday's Little Ringed Plover but this one is even better at camouflage! We couldn't see any at one point and we were just walking down the beach when it seemed that a rock just grew legs and walked away! Then it was joined by another one and then eventually there were 4 Dunlins walking around! They could disappear just as quickly by sitting down again if you didn't keep an eye on them..

So, I did my research as usual and here are the facts:

• They are resident in North-West Ireland and they Winter around the rest of Ireland's Coast as well as England's, Wales' and Southern Scotland's.

They seemed to magically appear and disappear
among the stones

• They do spend their Summer here as well. They breed in most of Northern Scotland and some of Southern Scotland. Also some parts of England and Wales are breeding places.

• There are 8,600-10,600 breeding pairs in the UK but a dramatically increased 360,000 Wintering birds.

• Despite this rather large number of birds they are a Red Status. This is because there has been a rather large decline in Non-Breeding Birds.

• They have some very weird local names, like the 'Tang Snipe' and another is 'Plover's Page'.

I saw four in all

• Their Scientific Name Kalidris alpinus means grey waterside bird described by Aristotle Alpine.

• They are 18cm in Length and they have a Wingspan of 40 cm and both Males and Females weigh 48g

• They first breed at 2 years and usually live for a surprising 5 years but the oldest lived for 19 years 3 months and 26 days!

Here are some links to more information:

RSPB - Dunlins

BTO Birdfacts - Dunlins

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.