Last weekend...

I made my first visit of the autumn to the visible migration watch point at Ferryhills, Fife. As expected for early in the season it was fairly quiet but I had the first 3 Tree Pipits moving through.
Last autumn I had a good run of Tree Pipits here in August and September, clearly this is an important bottleneck for Scottish Tree Pips on their way South. One of the birds came down briefly on the telegraph wires, birds were seen to  frequently do this last autumn when they would appear to me shifting around on their perch as if using the top of the hill to orientate before continuing on their migration.

Last week I was away in Sutherland and came across another family party of presumed Common (Mealy) Redpolls at a Site approximately 14 miles from the previous sighting. I had good views of an adult male feeding 3 Juv's as well as an additional ad male seen nearby. There were 20+ Redpolls in the area but most birds were typically flighty and elusive and it was not possible to confirm the ID on most of them.
As mentioned before a check online of the SOC bird report resource revealed sporadic reports of Common Redpolls  breeding or present in the breeding season in the Highlands. Given  the vast tracts of suitable habitat up here with little to no coverage by birders it may well be that the species is more widespread than assumed. It would be interesting to know it's status and how it compares with Lesser Redpoll and if there are any differences in habitat preference.

This adult male was feeding the 3 Juvs pictured below. At first glance the adult is a totally straight forward Common Redpoll due to the overall pale plumage tones but after doing a bit of online research I found that worn Adult Lesser Redpolls in late summer can lose their strong buff tones to the head and  underparts and be more like this. However this bird  has a bulky long winged Jizz typical of a Common and  a striking white ground colour to the rump as well as suggestion of pale tramlines on the mantle.

If anything, the 3 Juvs have plumage features that are more strongly indicative of Common Redpoll at this time of year than the Adult above; fresh Juv Lesser Redpoll would be expected to show strong brown and buff tones. Note on these birds the off  white ground colour to the flanks and undertail coverts, also on the middle bird the white ground colour to the rump and the pale markings on the mantle.