group of about 30-40 small birds - help with id please

[martyp]

Hi all,

Sorry my bird id ability is a bit poor, I was hoping someone could (probably in a second) advise what these birds are which I keep seeing. I noticed them a week or two ago in young woodland at the end of my garden as a group of sometimes as many as 40 small sparrow-like birds which fly up in a group and then land in the trees for a bit, then fly off in a circle again. They have a dipping style of flight as well.

I've seen long tailed tits quite frequently but these didn't have long tails. It was really hard to get a decent photo as looking at them from my house they're silhouetted against the sun but did manage to get one photo and hope to use the ID to add to local ecological records for the area.
Many thanks in advance

[Deb London]

Sound like Siskins marty. Can't see pic too well but it looks right too.

[Johnny81]

Redpolls

[martyp]

Many thanks both, sorry it's a bad pic. I waited until they landed in the tree closest to my house to get a photo and had to use the extended (digital) zoom to get that pic so it was a bit grainy. I read that there are lesser and mealy redpolls? Is it easy to tell between the two? They do look yellowy so I wondered if they were siskins as well.
I'll keep trying to get a better picture of them. I think I've just seen one again hanging upside down on a vertical branch on the willow tree next door.
Do siskins and redpolls both tend to fly around in groups of about 30-40?

[htcdude]

Yours are both Redpolls (you can see the red head of the right hand bird), I'd imagine Lesser as Mealy's are usually seen singly in amongst flocks of Lessers.

Siskins and Redpolls will flock together, both being finch species and eating similar foods.

Nige

[Deb London]

Yes sorry, they did look like Siskins on my phone - they are Redpoll on the computer monitor, one of my favourites.

[martyp]

Excellent many thanks all. So it could even be an interesting mix of birds then not neccessarily all one species. I'll have to try and get some better photos when I see them next, they definitely stand out as looking interesting.

[htcdude]

Always keep an eye out for Mealy's amongst a flock of Lesser, they can be tricky to identify though, even with a good view. I've always found this useful though:

Redpolls

Nige

[Deb London]

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that, BUT two birds in the hand, for the purposes of comparative identification, well that's just PRICELESS!

[Dogghound]

Yes lesser redpoll.