How do you identify a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat in the spring/summer? We'd been immediately struck in the field by how brown-backed today's new arrival at the Obs had looked and made a bit of effort to cajole it into a net to get a better understanding of its features © Nick Hopper...
...it did indeed turn out to be appreciably sandy-brown on the upperparts and had what seemed to be a rather poorly defined mask. The tail possessed a peculiar mixture of old and new feathers that could be taken to suggest that the bird was a first-summer although we weren't actually convinced that the old feathers were actually juvenile © Martin Cade:
In the past when they were more numerous migrants Turtle Doves were to be expected in early June so this evening's fleeting visitor wasn't too out of season © Nick Hopper:
One of this evening's Arctic Skuas lingered distantly for the duration of our watch and caused pandemonium amongst the hundreds of large gulls feeding offshore every time it tried its luck at getting its evening meal © Martin Cade:
The oddest bird of the watch was this Common Tern that for the most part was feeding distantly amongst the gulls. At very long range we kept getting tantalising glimpses of features that hinted at it not being an adult even though it looked to have a full hood but it wasn't until it eventually came closer (...and, most unusually, even landed for a while) that the signs of immaturity - scruffy plumage, two generations of outer primaries, partial secondary bar and the like - were revealed. It also became clear that the bird's bill was deformed but if this was related in any way to the non-adult plumage features - maybe it can't preen properly? - remained uncertain © Martin Cade:
