Possible Common Redpoll near Kingsbury Water Park
Possible 'Mealy' Redpoll
Possible Mealy Redpoll
Possible 'Mealy' Redpoll
Possible Mealy Redpoll
Possible Mealy RedpollSunday January 2010
Early start to check out Pete Softley's Mealy/ Common Redpoll at Bodymoor Heath. Beautiful morning and I was surprised their weren't more birders about. A short walk down the canal towpath brought me to the first group of Alders. There were a few Redpoll and Goldfinch in the first few trees but the main flock was further down. It was quite hard work going through the flock, mainly because the bright sunlight bleached out a lot of colour and made the Lessers look pale. The group was flighty for no apparent reason but usually came back to the same trees. I worked my way down past the lock but there were no obvious candidates. When I walked back to the start to try again it was clear the flock was now much bigger, in excess of 30 birds. A group of 5 Redpolls feeding low down in a small tree caught my attention. It was the thick white 'braces' down the backs of two of the birds which stood out, but they also displayed a broad white wing bar. Other features which looked good for Mealy included a broad white supercilium and a general white ground colouration. I've included a few shots which illustrate some of these features.
I only had enough time for a quick look around the Nature reserve pools at Kingsbury but the best bird was a Kingfisher on the canal. On the walk back it was noticable that the main flock of Redpolls had dispersed with only a few birds remaining in the Alders. There was time for a 'drop in' visit to Coton where I saw my first Little Egret of the year and 4 Common Snipe.
Looks like a Mealy to me.
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