Spots or Smudges?

This is the first of three blogs that all date from last weekend, 2nd – 4th June, when the Lost Naturalist travelled north to Aberdeenshire.

Saturday morning, was again one of those OK moments, when I was standing, by the bottom of a concrete pier looking up at the low cliff above, and wondering whether I’m seeing clear spots or smudges?

Having risen at some unearthly hour and travelled south to reach Girdle Ness, on the edge of Aberdeen, before the local punters have even fluttered an eyelid at the first signs of a new morning, I could almost believe I was seeing either. Spots or smudges? Smudges or spots? At last with a fumble of the focussing ring of the binoculars the bird came properly into view and it was a Rock Pipit, I think. So much for my first attempt at trying to tell the difference between Rock Pipits and Meadow Pipits from a distance. Why can’t they sit still like plants? At least then I’d have enough time to look them up properly! With birds though, I hardly get them into focus and I’m desperately searching for identifying characteristics, especially on those at a distance and they’re off. Luckily though, there was an expert on hand to help sort the differences. Finally having got my eye in a bit, I decided that Rock Pipits are in fact greyer than the Meadow Pipits, which have a much more olive/yellowish tinge to them.

Girdle Ness, Aberdeen – 02 June 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)

Anyway, it was bright and early on Saturday morning and we were assisting in the ringing of some the unfledged Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit and Linnet chicks. I’m not sure that the ringers shouldn’t be getting danger money, as investigating the nests often involves climbing cliff faces, or diving into the depths of Gorse bushes! But the prizes are worth it – tiny balls of fluff. I was surprised at how light they were, and in general how primitive they look. Species such as Linnets have very little cute value at this age, as they look more like baby dinosaurs then birds, being awkward, ungainly, and mainly bags of skin.

In general I have to say that the Pipits were my favourite chicks, what with more feathers and looking decidedly more bird like, however, they still had the a touch of wildness to them with a few remaining tufts of wispy hairs over their newly emerged feathers.

Meadow Pipit Chick – 02 June 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)

Then there were the Linnet chicks, that had the very strong resemblance to dinosaurs, in fact the Linnet chicks reminded me of what I imagine baby Velociraptors must have looked like. They were much smaller with less feathers, at this point the feathers were just a few emerging along the wings, and a generally they had much more reptilian feel to their form.

 

Linnet Chick – 02 June 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)