Whiteholme

Whimbrel

 

Blackstone Edge

Goldfinch juvenile

Little Ringed Plover 1

Also:  Ringed Plover 3

Whiteholme

Meadow Pipit carrying food

And here are photos that have had me puzzled, not least because they are not very good. They show a compact brown bird with a large black eye in a plain face. An eye ring is visible in the first photo. The back is streaked dark brown: tertials have broad pale fringes and almost reach the wing tip. The tail is dark brown centrally with yellow-brown sides, (and no white), and rounded corners. Underparts are plain, with some faint streaking of the breast sides. The bill is pinkish brown, and the legs and feet are light pink.

My id is Grasshopper Warbler. I have only had one previous good look at a 'Gropper', and the feature that stood out for me then was the pinkness of the legs: I think this clinches the id here. It could be a juvenile because books say these are warmer brown than adults, and because of the way it stood out in the open.

(Earlier, I was walking NE along the track beside the reservoir when I flushed a bird at the side of the track just a few feet away: it was small and brown and I got nothing on it, and after about 25 yards it dropped into the long grass. Later, when I was returning, the same thing happened again. I had no idea what this bird was, but with hindsight it is interesting that Hume et al in 'Europe's Birds' say that Grasshopper Warbler "may flush at close range".)

PS (12 August): This bird is actually a young MEADOW PIPIT! See Mick Cunningham's erudite analysis in 'COMMENTS'.

Blackstone Edge

Wheatear 2.  The second bird is missing its left 5th(?) primary. Can anyone tell me please whether ALL passerines have a short first primary?

Ringed Plover 2

Herring Gull 2 west

Whiteholme

Ringed Plover 1

Lesser Black-backed Gull juvenile and adult

Blackstone Edge

Ringed Plover 3

Linnet 2 juveniles: birds lack white upper and lower eye crescents, and white cheek spot. Bill is different shape from Twite: base is deeper

Whiteholme

Whimbrel, with 3 Curlews. Thanks MH.

Blackstone Edge

Whimbrel. This bird showed how whimbrels are tamer than curlews: a dog (with walker following) approached to about 25 yards before the bird flew off.

I know my photos are not very good: just record shots. But I'm trying to contribute to local bird recording without using a car, and with equipment that in total cost less than 1K: Kite Lynx HD+ 10x30 bins and Lumix FZ82D (the D is vital) 60x zoom bridge camera. My usual Blackstone Edge/Whiteholme walk is over 4 miles, and aged 81 I could not do this with two heavy weights around my neck.

Baitings

Kestrel. I thought this bird was a male when it showed a grey tail on landing, but (with the help of Dick Forsman's 1999 'Raptors') I've identified it as an adult female.

The underparts have light streaking, and spots, - not the heavy streaking of a juvenile. The cere and feet are yellow, (tinged green in juv). The bird is moulting its flight feathers and tail: some primaries are missing and 3 tail feathers are not fully grown, (first such moult occurs when a year old).

The crown, posterior eye stripe, and moustache are pale - perhaps indicating a young bird (? 2 or 3cy). Upperparts are brown with typical black flat triangular bars. Tail has grey feathers with black bars and broad subterminal band, (Forsman quotes a study finding 40% of 2cy females with grey in tail, and up to 75% of older birds).

Whiteholme

Little Ringed Plover

Common Scoter pair

Great Crested Grebe 5

Blackstone Edge

Ringed Plover 2

Whiteholme

Merlin juvenile. Dick Forsman (1999, Raptors of E and ME) has a photo of a juvenile Merlin, and notes that there are dark streaks on the breast "turning to bars towards the flanks". This bird shows this feature. And I do not think an adult would have let me get as near as I did to this bird.

Also: Wheatear 1

Blackstone Edge

Ringed Plover juvenile

Also: Wheatear 1

Whiteholme

Meadow Pipit with 2 or 3 prey items

Common sandpiper

Blackstone Edge

Ringed Plover juvenile. Body more 'dumpy' than LRP, and rear not attenuated. Thicker bill. No yellow or pale buff orbital ring. Pale forehead visible in second photo.

Common sandpiper