Cold Edge

Stonechat pair

Herring Gull adult. The bird has 3 white-tipped primaries beyond the tertials: a fully grown wing has 4. The head and neck have moulted into winter plumage: there are dark streaks on the neck, and dark markings on the head - especially around the eye - making the eye stand out.

Cold Edge

Marsh Harrier immature

Common Gull 9. The top photo shows the streaked shawl of winter plumage. The middle one shows the plain greater coverts of a 1cy bird, contrasting with the dark centres and pale margins of the median and lesser coverts

Reed Buntings

Cold Edge

Jack Snipe 1. In dull conditions with rain expected it was flushed from the side of a track, about 7 metres from me. It gave a brief, quiet, quite harsh call. It flew low and dropped down into heather about 25m away. In the 1-2 seconds it was visible, the only plumage feature I noted was a white line on the wing. I walked over to about where it landed (the heather was quite tall and the ground very uneven), but the bird did not fly again.

bradshawbirds.blogspot.com (Ogden)

Hi John, Great photos today as always. I think your 18th is a 1cy female Scaup. Bulky body: steep forehead: highest point of crown looks to be in front of mid point: broad bill with black confined to tip: quite large diffuse white patch at side of bill: some white at rear of face. Regards, Pete. (Dave S has my phone no.)

Cold Edge

Goosander. The white markings above and below the eye age this bird as 1st calendar year (1cy)

1 of 4 Goldfinch

Some of about 270 Starlings. The top left 3 birds are adults, but most of the rest are 1cy, with pale head and neck. The pale underwing can be seen on some birds

1cy Lesser Black-backed Gull. It has the typical dark outer greater coverts, but the tertials are unusual. Normally LBB tertials have a dark centre surrounded by a pale fringe, with a straight (mostly) line separating them, and sometimes the fringe is thicker at the tip: here the proximal two thirds are typical, but the distal third is white with a dark transverse bar

Cold Edge

Reed Bunting 2. They were together, and I think are a pair, with the top photo being the male and the other 2 the female. The male shows signs of feathers beginning to wear away to reveal a black bib. The female has a pale throat and a thick black malar (or whatever we're supposed to call it now) stripe.

The bird with no tail

This tree is similar to the one in Newcastle, County Down, that has just been named Tree of the Year

Lee Mount - 7th October

What a start to the morning with a text from DJB with 7 Whooper Swans >SE over Soil Hill area at 08:50. Mmmm >SE that maybe in my direction so went out on the off chance they might show over here. 

Right on queue..just a few minutes later... 7 Whoopers quite high just to my east, no noise. but looked good against the grey sky. 

Thanks DJB and with a bit of luck thrown in !

Fly Flatts / Withens Head

1 Wheatear still present near the wind-farm yesterday (1st October) but it was so windy up there late morning today I failed to relocate it. A nice surprise was 13 Pink-footed Geese heading >W in the blustery conditions. They were getting higher and higher as I followed them out of site.

1 Raven landed on the mast briefly and a Buzzard headed >S over the wind-farm.

All I managed at Fly Flatts apart from 12 Carrion Crows and 4 LBBG's on the mud - and there is plenty of that. No waders, though I  scoped 3 Teal on a small pool. Distant Buzzard and 3 Kestrels.

Cold Edge

Sparrowhawk juvenile male

Tamer than an adult would be. Upperparts brown with buff fringes, (1 year and older - grey). Irregular fairly coarse brown barring on underparts, (female - greyer barring; adult - finer and more regular barring)

Pheasant: family party with 5 immatures - 4 female (shorter tail than adult) - 1 male (head and neck grey with just the beginnings of red wattle, but like adult does have buff spots on back and black spots on flank)