Red-throated Pipit? Scilly Days 3-4, 13th-14th October 2025

After a long day trudging around St Mary's seeing little (aside from a Garden Warbler that was briefly kicked up to Booted before being unceremoniously booted back to Garden) the next day we got the boat to Bryher in easterly winds with the goal of better views of a Wryneck.  On arrival it was clear that there had been a drop of migrating birds.  Fieldfares, Redwing, a small number of Ring Ouzels and warblers everywhere demanded attention.  There was nothing rare, but the feeling of there being birds in every bush was exciting, and we all felt that there was something out there to find.  

We missed the Wryneck, but saw Kingfisher and Jack Snipe, Siskins in good numbers and our first Wheatears of the trip.  Walking round the back of Bennetts Boat Yard I was stopped by a German birder to ask my opinion on a photo of a pipit.  Did I think it was a Red-throated?  Frankly, I had a moment of blank apprehension - about to be exposed as a fraud of a birder because I had absolutely no idea what the key features of Red-throated Pipit were!  The bird in the photo was distinctive and different, and I immediately asked the more experienced birders with me their opinion.  We quickly refound the bird only 20 metres away in short grass and took a rapid fire sequence of photos.  The bird then flushed, but, crucially, didn't call.


I didn't know this at the time and there has been a fair bit of field reading about Pipits in autumn since, the key to clinching the ID is hearing the high pitched raspy call.  Plumage wise the bird looks great for Red-throated as far as I can see, with the caveat that I am no expert. In the field, the bird was pale, almost monochrome looking, with a "black-and-white" feel to it.  Easily refound if I took my eyes off it in the midst of a flock of 40 plus Meadow Pipits, with none of the warm tones associated with them.  A yellowy lower mandible, white braces on the back, white edged tertiaries, a small supercilium (in my photos, but more prominent in others) and bold moustachial striping along with black triangles on the nape all point to a young autumn Red-throated Pipit.  Sadly, we didn't manage photos of the rump.

We sent back of camera photos out to people we know who know better than us about autumn Pipits, without saying what we thought it was.  The uniform answer came back as RTP.  The abundance of caution over the bird has led to an afternoon of circular conversation and trying to squeeze more ID accuracy out of a limited set of photos.  We're left waiting to see if anyone else can find the Pipit and confirm the identity, though as far as I know only 8 people actually got eyes on the bird.


I loved Bryher.  It felt wild and remote, and a place of beautiful contrast with a wild and craggy coast exposed to the Atlantic and a golden sands and blue seas strait facing Tresco.  I don't think I could love it more, except, perhaps, if a Red-throated Pipit gets accepted in the next couple of days.






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