Waders and wildfowl which have me puzzled (UK) (1 Viewer)

[Georgebirds]

I am not great with waders yet, they seem to be the trickiest for me to recognise - even with photos and illustrations right in front of me, I cannot always pin down exactly what I'm looking at.

I've given up on this one, probably very easy for those of you who know the UK waders off by heart but I've looked at all the pictures in all my books so much I think they're about four different things!

This one has been sitting unidentified for several weeks now, Redshank-ish but with yellow/beige legs? The flooded grazing marsh between Holkham and Wells-next-the-sea, Norfolk, last month.

Here it is with some wigeon to help with size, I only have it in two shots and nothing else is near enough for a good comparison.

And also, ducks! I'm doing much better on learning ducks than waders, but I've still managed to find one which I can't ID...

Small one on the water, again with some wigeon left in for scale. Deeping lakes, near Stamford, January.

No better pics, this was at the limit of my camera zoom.

I know I have some others as well, just haven't had time to rummage through all my pictures to crop and upload just yet. Should I stick to one forum topic and add to it with new requests, or start a new one each time I have a problem ID to ask about? I know forum etiquette varies by community, and I'd like to do whichever is preferred round here.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

They look like 2 Curlew Sandpipers, Ruff and Female Pochard to me.

 

[Butty]

1. With that bill, your options are: stilt sandpiper, curlew sandpiper and dunlin - in order... hugely rare, always nice to see, and dirt common. Happily forgetting the first, these are the always-nice-to-see ones - not showing their best features very obviously (supercilium and bill-shape), but bill is more evenly-curved than (as dunlin would be) drooping at tip, and legs seem longish. Upperparts nail it though: grey with dark anchor-marks, as juvenile curlew sandpiper.
Location and date missing here, and both of those are often useful (or essential) for ID - and would be here.
2. 'Redshank-ish but with yellow/beige legs' fairly nails it as ruff anyway. Note also scalloped upperparts, small head, and shorter bill than redshank.
3. Greyish body + rufousy head = pochard.
Much less confusing to start a new discussion for every group of IDs. 4-5 IDs per thread is a sensible max. In my opinion.

 

[Southern Viking]

As Butty says, first two waders together are juvenile Curlew Sandpipers, the other waders are Ruff and last female duck is Pochard

 

[Georgebirds]

Ah, excellent, the Curlew Sandpipers are a new one for my list, then! Thanks for the detailed rundown of what they could be and why, that's the sort of thing I'll find handy for checking out ID features in future, too.
Location was the Norfolk coast, possibly Snettisham but I can't quite remember - they're from the year before I started birding properly and keeping sightings sorted by location and ebird - but I only visit the stretch of coast between there and Wells, so definitely Wash to North Norfolk area.

Ruff seems to be what I end up on for a lot of my mystery birds which need looking up intently, maybe I'm just not good at recognising Ruffs, hah!

And thanks for the unanimous Pochard tip, too - I'm so used to the male ones overwintering in large amounts, the female was unfamiliar!

 

[Georgebirds]

I remembered one of the others I meant to ask, any chance anyone can recognise these waders, about Lapwing size, photographed in December at Snettisham. I think Golden Plover, but they look paler underneath and greyer on the top - though that could be a combination of the low winter sunlight, and the camera being at maximum zoom, bird shaped blobs being the best it can do at times!

With Shelduck for scale

 

[Southern Viking]

I remembered one of the others I meant to ask, any chance anyone can recognise these waders, about Lapwing size, photographed in December at Snettisham. I think Golden Plover, but they look paler underneath and greyer on the top - though that could be a combination of the low winter sunlight, and the camera being at maximum zoom, bird shaped blobs being the best it can do at times!

With Shelduck for scale

Yeah spot on, they're Golden Plover

 

[Georgebirds]

Thanks, I'll edit them in to my checklist for that day. Anything I'm not sure of, I just leave off entirely rather than putting my guess down, so it's nice to be able to add an extra species on there.
I'll be asking a lot more of my uncertainties now I know how quick and helpful the forum members are!