A few images of the pale Chiffchaff found by RCT today at Hartlepool Headland. I personally didn't hear it call so not much to go on there.
It appears to show many tristis characters but (importantly?) its legs and especially its feet are clearly not all dark/blackish as would be expected for a Sibe Chiffchaff.
Interesting bird but remained frustratingly mobile and elusive so better images were not possible. Thoughts on ID welcome...
A few more...
Steve
This is not the bird I was looking at, it shows too many green fringes to the wing and tail as well as not having dark enough legs and it was the plaintive call that first attracted me to the bird.
However the bird in the photographs certainly looks interesting, it looks horribly like a Bonelli's Warbler to me....
Funnily enough I said it looked Bonelli's-like to Rich S when watching it yesterday. However, I felt the primary projection looked a little short. But now you've mentioned it again...
Hearing it call could have been very interesting!
Did Rich happen get any more photos of it?
Oh...
Ah...
Oh..Ah... indeed! That pretty much sums up my thoughts too. There was a 'chiffchaff' in the same tree as this bird, which I caught on camera in the couple of frames before this one. Didn't realise it was there at the time but that one WAS a Chiffchaff on reflection. Took them to be the same bird on the back of the camera. Lesson learned the hard way. We were looking for a pale Chiffchaff, and that was what we saw! No excuses...
Unfortunately Rich S has no images of it, but I have a few more here.
More...
Last few...
Here's a link to BB paper on Bonellis Warbler ID/separation if anyone's interested:
http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/search?model=pdf&id=8450 (http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/search?model=pdf&id=8450)
Fingers crossed it sticks!
Cheers
James