I looked at the weather forecast last night; heavy rain overnight, then cloudy with a strong south-westerly to be followed by more rain, and decided it probably wasn't a day for going to Morton Bagot. Instead I fancied my chances of finding a Rock Pipit at Earlswood.
So just before 09.00 am I was standing on the causeway, scanning about. Within a few minutes I found myself looking at a Rock Pipit. As I believe someone once said on the A Team (a 1980s TV show) "I love it when a plan comes together".
Shortly afterwards I realised there were two. I messaged the Whatsapp Group, and stuck them on Twitter. Having done my duty I settled down to get some photos. I never carry a scope at Earlswood, so my best chance of a decent view is peering at the back of my camera. Mind you, these birds were doing their best to oblige.
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| Rock Pipit A |
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| Rock Pipit B |
Shortly afterwards I saw and heard a potential third bird flying over and heading to the bottom of Windmill Pool. So I set off on a mission to check it out.
Other birds found on Windmill included two Common Sandpipers and a Green Sandpiper, but both species had been present for a few days.
Eventually I was back on the causeway without having seen another Rock Pipit. Tony Philp was there, asking where the Rock Pipits were. I pointed to the shingle shore where the two birds were still together, but then looked down below the dam and saw another one, the third bird.
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| Rock Pipit C |
It was around this time that things became over-complicated. I couldn't help noticing that on the images in the back of the camera, bird A looked browner than birds B and C. I started to wonder whether it could be a different race, or even whether it was actually a Water Pipit.
I had taken some video of it when it was at its closest, and back home a freeze-frame of the outer tail feather looked whiteish. Not persil white, just whiteish. I got it into my head that this might be an indication of the continental race, littoralis.
Here is a screenshot from the video.
And here is a shot of bird A and bird B together. A is the one furthest away.
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| Rock Pipits A and B |
The video of the Rock Pipit can be seen on https://youtu.be/-Mu5vrXcRiM
Here is one more image of bird A.
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| Rock Pipit A |
My research has proved inconclusive, and it appears that they just can't be identified to sub-species level in the autumn.
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