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22-10-2007, 02:35 PM
|  | Wild Member | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Quay, Ceredigion, W.Wales.
Posts: 164
| | | Small Grey Bird
I spotted this little guy from my window about 10 minutes ago (as i went to close it) it was hovering at the top of our palm for a while then sat on the fence. I don't have my guide with me (again) Though it's surely a first for me whatever it is.  Mainly grey as you can see but the tail especially in flight or hovering is reddish and quite striking in comparison with the rest of the bird. Maybe slightly bigger than a blue tit.
Any ideas?  
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22-10-2007, 03:16 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Derbyshire
Posts: 1,731
| | | Re: ID please (with pics)
Nice pics!
I will have a guess at chiffchaff but dont take my word for it 
jen xxx |
22-10-2007, 03:16 PM
|  | Dame Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North Kent
Posts: 6,353
| | | Re: ID please (with pics)
This is a Black Redstart. How lucky for you to have it as a visitor!
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22-10-2007, 03:18 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Derbyshire
Posts: 1,731
| | | Re: ID please (with pics)
See never trust me!! 
jen xxx |
22-10-2007, 03:31 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 3,261
| | | Re: ID please (with pics)
I'll go along with Black Redstart probably female or immature
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W.H.Davies |
22-10-2007, 03:42 PM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Small North Lincolnshire village
Posts: 6,678
| | | Re: ID please (with pics)
Most certainly a Redstart and a great bird for a garden visitor.
Roger |
22-10-2007, 04:03 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,511
| |  Re: ID please (with pics)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ollie  Most certainly a Redstart and a great bird for a garden visitor.
Roger | Not a Redstart, but Black Redstart! |
22-10-2007, 04:27 PM
| | Wild Member | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Quay, Ceredigion, W.Wales.
Posts: 164
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Thanks for the replies and id's everyone, jdurbo your guess was better than mine, i was at a total loss.
This is a first sighting for me and I'm over the moon, i just hope it returns. 
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A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn. |
22-10-2007, 05:08 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Small North Lincolnshire village
Posts: 6,678
| | | Re: ID please (with pics)
Quote:
Originally Posted by aeshna5 Not a Redstart, but Black Redstart! | You are correct, I should have added the Black instead of just using the general term Redstart as they are separate species
Roger |
22-10-2007, 05:23 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Little village called Chedworth
Posts: 4,777
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
wow fabulous spot for a garden!! Not normally a garden visitor in this country - unless your garden looks like a bomb-site that is........   |
22-10-2007, 05:37 PM
| | Wild Member | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Quay, Ceredigion, W.Wales.
Posts: 164
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gill Catton wow fabulous spot for a garden!! Not normally a garden visitor in this country - unless your garden looks like a bomb-site that is........ | Really?
Where are they usually spotted? The garden is tidy, lots of leaves lying around as to be expected but apart from that it's tidy by most standards i would say. The bird seemed very interest in our Chinese fan palm, hovering about the top of it for quite a while. Maybe that has something to do with it, i'm not sure.
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A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn. |
22-10-2007, 05:47 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,543
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reptilian Really?
Where are they usually spotted? The garden is tidy, lots of leaves lying around as to be expected but apart from that it's tidy by most standards i would say. The bird seemed very interest in our Chinese fan palm, hovering about the top of it for quite a while. Maybe that has something to do with it, i'm not sure. | Nice one! That's a great bird to have in your garden, I've yet to see one in this country! They're very rare breeders in this country, and most breed in towns and cities, but they are a bit commoner on migration when they turn up around the coasts. Your's is probably on it's way south, or possibly it will overwinter nearby
Guy |
22-10-2007, 06:02 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,511
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reptilian Really?
Where are they usually spotted? The garden is tidy, lots of leaves lying around as to be expected but apart from that it's tidy by most standards i would say. The bird seemed very interest in our Chinese fan palm, hovering about the top of it for quite a while. Maybe that has something to do with it, i'm not sure. | As Gill alluded to they became famous as birds of old bomb sites after last war. They seem to prefer industrial landscapes, particularly in Midlands + London area + green/brown rooves have been adapted to encourage this bird. A guy called Dusty Gedge has done a lot of promotion of this + been on TV several times talking about it. A friend rang me yesterday to say she'd found one in a small cemetery in Ealing.
The power station area at Dungeness is another classic Black Redstart site with breeding birds. |
22-10-2007, 06:22 PM
| | Wild Member | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Quay, Ceredigion, W.Wales.
Posts: 164
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Wow, i had no idea.
Looking at the RSPB site where i live (Right on the coast) falls right on their wintering sites. The RSPB: Black redstart
Thanks for the info.
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22-10-2007, 07:12 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: South Oxfordshire
Posts: 1,379
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
What a great species to get in your garden.
Paul
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26-10-2007, 09:39 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Little village called Chedworth
Posts: 4,777
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Quote:
Originally Posted by aeshna5 As Gill alluded to they became famous as birds of old bomb sites after last war. They seem to prefer industrial landscapes, particularly in Midlands + London area + green/brown rooves have been adapted to encourage this bird. A guy called Dusty Gedge has done a lot of promotion of this + been on TV several times talking about it. A friend rang me yesterday to say she'd found one in a small cemetery in Ealing.
The power station area at Dungeness is another classic Black Redstart site with breeding birds. | Fantastic chap I was taling to him about a siite a couple of months ago and he reckons they may actually be more common than is currently thought, just very under-recorded. Mainly due to their habits of singing mostly very very early and going quiet for a couple of weeks during incubation in addition to usually being quite secrative in behaviour - I find it very interesting how BR in Spain are far more confiding, flitting around railway stations and on the lawn in front of my hotel!  |
26-10-2007, 09:52 AM
| | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Ipswich
Posts: 785
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gill Catton wow fabulous spot for a garden!! Not normally a garden visitor in this country - unless your garden looks like a bomb-site that is........ |
Not so unusual  10 years ago, when I was a student in north London, one of these birds (also a female) turned up in the garden of the house I was living in, on Easter Sunday. It spent the afternoon patrolling up and down the back gardens of the small terrace and then moved on. They're quite common as urban birds on the Continent, I believe they're called "House Redstarts" in Germany. Lovely little birds.
T2
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26-10-2007, 10:08 AM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North Yorkshire ( Gods Country )
Posts: 898
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
great spot for a garden,,,,, Well done. Redstarts are a lovely bird
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26-10-2007, 04:09 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Lancashire
Posts: 1,335
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Black Redstart in the garden! That is some sighting. Congratulations!
Regards, Chris |
26-10-2007, 04:50 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,115
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Jdurbo??.....really?.....a chaffinch * rolls eyes
Have you been drinking?....
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28-10-2007, 07:40 PM
| | Wild Member | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Quay, Ceredigion, W.Wales.
Posts: 164
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Thanks for all the replies.
This sighting has made my year up to now. I've sent the pictures into my local paper (Cambrian News) because they want nature pictures to represent winter. Being right on the Black Redstarts wintering grounds, i think it represents it perfectly. If it materializes i'll post the response.
Thanks.
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Last edited by Reptilian; 28-10-2007 at 08:00 PM.
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04-11-2007, 03:25 PM
| | Wild Member | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Quay, Ceredigion, W.Wales.
Posts: 164
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
Sorry for the double post, but i thought the subscribers of this thread might have missed the one in the Treehouse. If it needs moving or deleting i understand.
I sent the shots off to the local paper the Cambrian News for their weather section. I didn't really think anything of it, i didn't get a reply or anything. Anyway, last week i picked up the paper turned the page and there it was on page two. 
(waits for the sniggers at my sir name)
I sent them quite a lot of info but it looks like they chose to lift the brief description from the RSPB site. One of the first spotted this year around these parts too apparently.
It's made my year as far as birding goes. Thanks for all the input.[/quote]
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04-11-2007, 03:34 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,115
| | | Re: Small Grey Bird
What a result Callum....i would be so chuffed to just see the bird let alone have my pic in the paper..
and whats so bad about the sirname Cherry????...thats CHERRY incase anyone didnt notice?....lol
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