Cream Tea Birding: Lapland Bunting

Saturday, 6 December 2014

Lapland Bunting

A lovely calm and sunny day today, perfect for checking the sea, so I looked off Otterton Sewage Works where 3 Great Northern Divers, 1 Red-throated Diver and 6+ Guillemot were on the sea. However, highlight of the day was a late afternoon walk around the top fields with the Mrs. As expected I disturbed a few Skylarks and the odd Meadow Pipit and then a coastguard helicopter flew low overhead and flushed a larger group of Skylark ahead of me. As I scanned the flock in the sky I could see a smaller passerine in with them that looked like a bunting but they all flew off and I was cursing!

However, with a little patience the flock returned and the bunting was still in with the flock but remained silent. The light was not great to see much detail, so I grabbed a few SLR shots before the flock finally settled back in the stubble and my suspicions proved right as a chestnut wing panel and strong face pattern was clearly visible from the back of my camera. Result! My 4th Lapland Bunting for the patch after at least two birds during the invasion autumn of 2010 and a single bird in Nov 2011. I saw the bird again in flight and heard it call, but very quietly for a Lapland with a subtle mini machine gun trill followed by the odd tee-uu note, but very quiet amongst the Skylark.
A good day on the patch!