Pale Chiffchaff

At Hackney Marshes this morning there were two Water Rail, four Reed Bunting, eight Goldcrest, a male Blackcap, two Kingfishers and a Green Woodpecker, however I could only find one Chiffchaff. To my eyes it looked pretty pale and lacked any yellows or greens on the back, head or underparts. It had more brown in the back than you would expect from a classic tristis, but with only brief views and the bird not calling, I wouldn't feel confident assigning it to subspecies.

On the racecourse there were two wintering Stonechat, four Skylark, around a dozen Meadow Pipits, 50 Canada Geese and a lone Curlew.

At Passage House, there was a large flock of 'shanks roosting on one of the grass banks over high tide. This comprised of 12 Greenshank, 95 Redshank and a Black-tailed Godwit, with a further 11 Redshank on the railway embankment opposite Netherton Point making it the biggest count I've ever made on the Teign.

Can you spot the Black-tailed Godwit?

Other counts included 20+ Red-breasted Merganser in a fishing flock off Coombe Cellars, a Shag, two Kingfishers, seven each of Little Grebe and Little Egret, three each of Common Gull and Snipe, two Water Rail, 14 Lapwing, 38 Oystercatcher and 25 Curlew, 17 of which were feeding in a field next to Hackney Lane.

The Bonaparte's Gull was also reported off Teignmouth yesterday.