Sunday 3 April 2011

3rd April 2011 Beachy Head W1 Foggy and Arlington

Canada Goose 2W
Red-legged Partridge 2
Collared Dove 1
Stock Dove 12
Swallow 1
Wheatear 1
Black Redstart 2
Stonechat 8
alba Wagtail 1
Chiffchaff 3
Blackcap 2
Goldcrest 1
Firecrest 1
Linnet c.130

Stonechat at Belle Tout

Arlington Reservoir
Swallow 2
Pied Wagtail 2
probable Nordic Jackdaw 1 adult

Pied Wagtail at Arlington

Probable Nordic Jackdaw Corvus monedula monedula at Arlington Reservoir

This intriguing Jackdaw has been present at Arlington for several weeks and now appears paired to a Common Jackdaw C.m. spermologus - mixed breeding of spermologus and monedula having been reported in the Netherlands on several occasions. Whilst its broad whitish neck patch, silvery half-collar and pale-grey ear-coverts and nape all appear compelling for monedula, unfortunately its mantle, scapulars and underparts all appear rather dark - and therefore uniformly coloured with its wings. In this respect, a similar uniformly coloured individual is portrayed in Plate 243 of Identification of eastern subspecies of Western Jackdaw and occurrence in the Netherlands by Rudy Offereins in Dutch Birding Vol. 25 No.4, which whilst captioned as a 'Probable Nordic Jackdaw', within the caption detail it states 'could very well originate from the intergradation zone between Common Jackdaw C.m. spermologus and Nordic Jackdaw C.m. monedula'. That said, adult Jackdaws of all forms become worn by March which can result in darker underparts...

Snakeshead Fritillary in Burgess Hill