16th December

Roils Head
Met up with Sean and Andy. 3 Reed Bubtings, not on the seed. 12 Redpolls, we believe that at least 3 of these birds were Mealy Redpolls, they appeared to be paler than the lessers with nice pink breast, braces down the mantle and almost unstreaked undertail coverts.
Can not find out if this lack of streaking on the undertail coverts is typical of mealy. Rare Birds shows a drawing of arctic and redpolls undertail coverts on page 383 but does not mention mealy.
Any thoughts out there?