Some interesting redpolls have been passing through Bardsey of late (click
here and then on "Latest Wildlife Sightings", scroll down for photos and discussion between 10th and 18th April); there are also reports of similar looking birds from Somerset (see
here). On Bardsey the birds are being reported as "Common Redpoll" and/or
flammea, whilst
rostrata is mooted in Somerset. Around this time last year, I visited Tring in an attempt to bottom out just how much of a minefield subspecific redpoll identification really is,... conclusion - it's a total bastard. To continue with the metaphor, if you can imagine a minefield in a walled maze within which every mine is wired up to two nail bombs (one named 'phenotype', the other 'genotype') embedded opposite each other in the walls, one at head height, the other roughly aligned to the average birder's groin, then you get an idea of how tricky the identification of these streaky little cardueline blighters can be - proceed with extreme caution or, even better, don't proceed at all.
However, just for the hell of it, I did take a few pictures of pseudo-randomly selected samples of
cabaret,
flammea,
islandica and
rostrata and, just in case they might prove of interest, present them here for your perusal and delectation,... [NB. click on the images for larger versions,... or squint if you prefer.]
Upperparts of
cabaret (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Underparts of
cabaret (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Upperparts of
flammea (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Underparts of
flammea (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Upperparts of
islandica (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Underparts of
islandica (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Upperparts of
rostrata (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
Underparts of
rostrata (Copyright Natural History Museum, London).
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