It was cloudy, but calmer than on Sunday, the wind direction being just north of west. Initially I drove down the the Redpoll field, but after 10 minutes without a finch of any description I decided to cut my losses and head for the flash field.
At the pool I noticed that several pairs of Coots had arrived, and I ended up with a whole patch total of nine without visiting all of the small pools. A sign of spring for sure, as was my next good bird, a Shelduck. This flew over as I reached the flash field, and I suspect it had been on the furthest flash.
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| The Shelduck |
Back at the car I decided to give the Redpoll field another go. However, after 15 minutes without seeing any I decided to give up. Fortunately, as I was about to change my footwear, I looked round to see about 20 small finches on the wires. After a while they appeared in the hedgerow and were confirmed to be Lesser Redpolls. But one of them wasn't. It was too big, about 10% larger than a Lesser Redpoll sitting in front of it, the brown on the scapulars looked rather earth-brown, and the head and ear-coverts were strikingly pale, the flanks were white with grey streaks. I had finally found a Mealy Redpoll which I was happy with.
The distance from the bird was quite great, and the branches of the hedgerow would prove a distraction, so I was doubtful whether I would have time to get a photograph. As I was pondering this conundrum the birds all flew into the field. I was already on borrowed time, so decided to leave.
This sketch tries to convey what I saw.
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| Mealy Redpoll with Lesser for size comparison |
Well done Richard - persistence paid off in the end !
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