Rustic Bunting

I am not into twitching, I find it all very depressing, the complete opposite of why I like to be out in the countryside birdwatching. Then again, as my header says, if the bird is still around once the crowds have gone away, I might go and have a look. Last weekend gave me one of those opportunities.

Sue and I where staying up in London for a couple of days, just a few miles from the Rustic Bunting twitch on Wanstead Flats. I vetoed the suggestion of a shopping stop at Lakeside and managed to get across to Wanstead just before 4pm. There was enough light still available to get a decent picture but I needed to get onto the bird quickly.

Much to my surprise  there were only four people looking for the bird when we arrived. It had appeared briefly about fifteen minutes earlier and I suspect that most people had gone home then, thinking that the show was over for the day. We had a nervous wait but it did finally put in an appearance of sorts, although mostly concealed by the long grass.

I had real difficulty getting onto the bird but fortunately my non-birding wife was able to follow it and provided an ongoing commentary until I finally got a decent view. I think it must have been the fear of her seeing it and me dipping that had caused me to panic.

Rustic Bunting -  showing some of the diagnostic features for an Autumn bird

The bird was feeding on the ground amongst tufts of grass and in a fire damaged area. It only made brief appearances in the open and often these were in heavily shaded areas. With the light gradually going it proved difficult to get decent pictures.

Rustic Bunting  -  looking a bit more like a Reed Bunting

It is interesting to speculate, as to whether I would have realised it was a Rustic rather than a Reed Bunting, if I had not known that it was there. Certainly at times and when in the shadow it looked very similar to a Reed Bunting.

At other times the red/brown markings showed well and the white wing bars, white cheek patch, pink tint to the under bill and pinkish legs showed a lot more clearly.

Rustic Bunting  -  feather detail

Rustic Bunting  -  feather detail

Not too bad as twitches go and a life tick for me. I may not be competitive on twitching and listing but I do still keep count.

Now I just need a reason to be down at Lands End and just a couple of miles from the Catbird so I've got a good excuse to tick that one as well.