Recent Local Birding
It's been a while now since my trip to Spurn and I'm birding locally again... I'll start off with this splendid male Snow Bunting which was seen around the summit of the Worcestershire Beacon, Malvern Hills, for around a week during late October. The Beacon has become a frequent stop-off point for the species; last year a female overwintered there. They often seem to be indifferent to passers-by and even dogs. I'm pretty sure its an adult male, with the large white patch on the primary coverts, spade shaped greater coverts, thick brown edges to the tertials and the rounded tips to the tail feathers clinching it. The contrastingly pale mantle (upper back) with the brown of the scapulars (the feathers between the back and coverts) suggest that it is of the sub species nivalis , which occurs in Scandinavia and westwards into Greenland. Snow Bunting's are a bird of extremely harsh environments where they are perfectly adapted to cope. Like other...