I should have mentioned in my post on the avocet that all the new birds I saw on my trip to the Rye Harbour Nature Sanctuary, with the exception of the linnet, are on the amber list in terms of species of concern here in the UK. So that means that despite having seen a lovely little flock of these dunlins of about 15 or so, it isn't necessarily one of the most common birds here at the moment. I barely noticed them while trying to get photos of some far off oystercatchers, and I suddenly realised that parts of the brownish ground appeared to be moving. I had no way to identify these, so I was grateful to that UK bird ID group on Facebook to help me out. Experienced birders know what to look for to help with ID. The tell-tale sign for them was the black bellies on these birds, something that dunlins develop for the summer months. But because they are so far off, I didn't get any great photos of them, but I wanted to include this photo just at least as a record that I did see them.
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