Busy times of late, but managed to squeeze in a very relaxing and peaceful afternoon wander up Hoddy Cows Lane and onto the clifftop at Buckton today, where I'd the privilege of a really enjoyable session alone and up-close with a tribe of freshly-arrived
O.o.leucorhoa-type (Northern) Wheatears.
Why
leucorhoa? Well, the late date is a good clue, but the combination of pro-Greenland-type features are illustrated perfectly in the photos, thanks to the good nature of the five (four males and a female) birds present; all were amazingly approachable and accommodating.
Large size, upright stance, long-legged and -winged, that lovely warm orange wash extending across most of the underparts, buff-brown admixed into the upperparts; and on the female, a warmer, darker, cinammon-buff appearance overall. All as 'classic' as you could hope for, and all surely bound for an Atlantic crossing in the very near future.
