Great to read your interesting and well illustrated report of your joint mission to Steart yesterday.
You were spot on with your identification of the pale juvenile Common Buzzard. I've just replied to an email from Andrew and sent him a photo of a pale juvenile Honey Buzzard for comparison.
Well done with the Hobby too - very nice image capture on your Blog of it devouring an insect.
The photo on your Blog directly below the shot of the Hobby is labelled Peregrine but it actually shows a juvenile Kestrel. If you search using 'juvenile Peregrine' in GoogleImages, you'll see that the general shape and structure, plus the head and tail markings, don't match your falcon.
James – Looks like you had a lovely day and saw quite a lot!
The later shots - “We both struggled with this one.” - Yes, it’s a Wheatear.
The following shot though is definitely a male Whinchat and not a Stonechat.
These all turn up together in the autumn and are all of the same family - Chats. They are further confused by the fact that male & female Wheatears, which look so very different in the spring, are very similar in the autumn, when the male loses its breeding plumage! Stonechat and Whinchat can be a bit confusing but in adult birds, the Stonechat is rather short & tubby whilst the Whinchat is more sleek, (like your pic’), again, this is further confused by the inclusion of the juveniles in the autumn, which can be quite variable. It’s not easy James but believe me, we all get it wrong occasionally, so carry on clicking!
