late Wheatear

but just a Northern and not an Isabelline -- have never found a rare wheatear in the UK  but still a chance of a Desert this year

Yellow-browed what has happened to the migrants?

after a long slog on the Lincs coast producing the usual frustration with bluetails apparently dripping from every east coast bush away from where we were we were left asking just what has happened to east coast falls in south-easterly winds? totals for 10 hours were 2 Short-eared Owls, 4 Woodcock, about 30 Goldcrests, 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Northern Wheatear, 1 male Redstart, 1 Lapland Bunting and 4 warblers one each of Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Yellow-browed and Barred Warbler -- what a bizarre day but maybe tomorrow will be mega day! This was the rather elusive Yellow-browed the Barred was even worse

Ferruginous Duck cont

still waiting for some decent light on this bird; note how the head shape varies with posture when alert it is  totally different to when feeding; an easy bird to overlook when sleeping

Grey Phalarope

a beautiful first-winter ; 2nd of the autumn but always a treat

Ferruginous Duck

after extensive reading and spending the day watching this bird I am now convinced that this is a juvenile/ first-winter drake Ferruginous Duck; the pointed tail feathers, spiky look to the tail, belly markings, brown lines in the white undertail coverts and the bill pattern plus the duller iris and general coloration all seem to point to ageing as a juvenile; an interesting thing I noticed in the photos of the bird wing flapping is the small white round spot under the base of the lower mandible; in The Ducks of Britain and Northern Europe, Gooders and Boyer, there is a little sketch of this feature and text that states a fleshy white spot at the base of the the underside of the bill is found in drake Ferruginous Duck,and also in Bauer's Pochard and Ring-necked Duck;
In the BB paper KV shows a first-winter male with more extensive black on the bill tip and in the identification section under bill pattern states the following:
1) a large black bill tip is perfectly normal on female and immature Ferruginous Ducks and would not in itself suggest hybridity 2)it is perfectly normal for juveniles to have a predominantly all-dark bill, until at least autumn or early winter 
A good bird it engendered interest and research and is only the second record for the Barton pits following the adult drake on Waters' Edge in Feb - April 2001 -- it has been feeding almost constantly today possibly suggesting it is a recent arrival as numbers of Pochard and Tufted Ducks have increased in the last week

Greenland Wheatears

still passing through yesterday after the early week fall

late Hobby

a nice addition to the Sandhill Crane trip was this Hobby at Boydon marshes

when is a duck Ferruginous?

on the patch today -- is this a first-winter or eclipse drake Ferruginous Duck or are there sneaky hybrid genes in there? is the bill pattern within the range of variation for a pure bird? aythya ducks!

Identification of Ferruginous Duck and its status in Britain and Ireland K E Vinicombe
British Birds Volume 93 Number 1 January 2000 pages 4-21