Steve Duffield very kindly emailed me these images of a small stint, initially identified as a juvenile SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, present at Balgarva on South Uist (Outer Hebrides) from at least early September. Nick Lethaby, now residing in North America, raised concerns over its identification and along with a number of leading US ornithologists, consider it more likely to be a juvenile WESTERN SANDPIPER, based on the length of the bill, the ear covert pattern, the richness of the scapulars and a suite of other features. Interestingly, at the same time as this bird was discovered, there was a very similar bird further south in Scotland on Tiree in Argyll. Boy, these peeps can be tricky.......
