Really Mealy?

Had a good days birdwatching yesterday at Rainton Meadows. Not much around in terms of numbers of birds but a few special bird were lurking scattered about the reserve. One of the long staying Bitterns was present though as usual at present elusive, it only showed when a Grey Heron pretty much forced it out of the reedbed.

However the star bird was without a doubt a superb Mealy Redpoll, I have wanted to see one of these for a while and have been unable to do so. I had brushed up on my ID skills for the separation of Lesser and Mealy Redpoll so it wasn't to difficult, though still a challenge! Thankfully a mate of mine was present who has quite a lot of years up on me on birds and we were able to pick out 1 perhaps 2 from the large mobile flock. The bird that we got prolonged views off was superb:
- Pretty much pure white wing-bar
- Long primary projection (noted my my mate only)
- White rump
- Very grey and cold looking overall.

I however made the fatal mistake of spending about a minute taking a photo rather than studying the bird and enjoying it. So I put my mobile away and instead watched the bird so that I could satisfy in my own mind it was infact a Mealy and not a Lesser. Thankfully there were plenty of Lesser's present around it as well as Siskins, the bird stood out well. When we lost it it was very easily picked out again. But I am certainly going to be going back to try and study them further. One thing I didn't really notice was the size of the bird, they tend to be larger than Lesser's but not an absolute key ID feature. I have attached some terrible images of the Mealy, it was the best I could manage I'm afraid!

(Mealy Redpoll - Rainton Meadows)

(Mealy Redpoll - Rainton Meadows)

(Mealy Redpoll - Rainton Meadows)

What a bird and lifer number 283.

Until next time, Foghorn out!