Mealies again...

Above - This is a pale bird seen again in the fourth picture.

Above - Mealy Redpoll in front with Lesser Redpoll behind.

Above - Shows the very limited under tail covert streaking. 

Above - Although this was the palest bird, it has a thicker streak under the tail than the one above.

Above - Another pale bird but note the larger 'nearly goldfinch' bill.

This morning was frosty, relatively calm and clear. 

I decided to check around the woods to see if my redpolls had attracted an even more frosty cousin and spent a pleasant two hours just strolling the woods along the lane. 

A few birds were added to the OFFH list before I got a sniff of a redpoll - 1 Snipe in the ditch with a Water Rail, 1+Jay, 2+ Long tailed Tit and 2+ Goldcrests. 5 Woodcock were flushed in here too, then I wandered in on the finches by accident. 

This time only 6 birds were feeding in some tiny alders near a feeder ditch, but there were 4 Mealies and only 2 Lesser Redpolls. When they flew around it was easy to see the two small Lessers with the larger Mealies.

The coast was mainly quiet probably due to the Amble Open Sea Angling competition that had attracted 50+ anglers to the rock edges, where they just about lined our coast patch, shoulder to shoulder. Of note were a nice pair of Red breasted Mergansers close in flying north, 1 Rock Pipit, 7+ Eiders and a scattering of gulls.

It looks as if things will be milder by next weekend so the moth trap might come out...

OFFH List - 65