Wild Couple of birds and an ID please

[Kerioak]

I have just started taking photos again after a long break and assorted injuries which hopefully are disappearing. I went to Rye Harbour yesterday as it was a high tide hoping that there would be some wading birds within reach but there was only one in the couple of hours I was there and that soon moved off. I may well have some incorrect ID's please feel free to correct me

Whimbrel (changed from Godwit)

Are these yellow wagtails? They were a long way away, could not even see them with naked eye

Is this a wagtail or pippit or ?

 

[Moadib]

Hi,
The first two photos are a Eurasian curlew - nice photos!
No.3 does look like yellow wagtail - clear wingbars, greenish back tone (not grey) and broad supercilium, flaring behind the eye.

 

[Kerioak]

Hi Moadib, thanks for the ID but after a little more research I think maybe we are both wrong I now think it is a Whimbrel it was not a large bird, would you agree?

 

[Moadib]

Hi Christine. What makes you go for whimbrel? To me the eye and head stripes looked a bit weak for whimbrel, so thought juvenile curlew.

In defence of whimbrel we're getting the right time of year for passage migrants - but it's also a bad time for mixing with young curlew!

Below a juvenile curlew

 

[Moadib]

Sorry, meant to add the last one looks like a juvenile yellow wagtail also.

 

[Kerioak]

I am pleased about your confirmation on the yellow wagtail as it is the first time I have seen one and these two were playing/courting/fighting, could not see them without looking though the camera lens as I forgot to take binoculars

It was quite a small bird, I saw some later on at Winchelsea/Pett Level and they looked a lot larger even at a distance - this is a crop - there were probably between 70 and 80 of them. They looked pretty much the same to me but bigger so I think these were curlews

 

[Orangecroc]

The wagtails look more like grey wagtails to me, because of the white in the breast.

 

[Moadib]

Leg colour looks not right for grey wagtail, also the wing bars on primary and secondary coverts.

 

[Kerioak]

I do have a couple more pictures of that pair of wagtails - can post them tomorrow it if might help confirm identification.

 

[Orangecroc]

Looking again, I now agree with yellow wagtails because of the yellow hue to the line over the eye.

 

[Moadib]

I asked the experts over on BirdForum - also yellow wagtail. So looks like a life bird for you if first time to see them! I think they're not uncommon in England - up here we're right on the edge of their breeding range. We get some at Torness every year, and I think that might be the most northerly publicised breeding pair.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3608369#post3608369

 

[Kerioak]

Thanks for checking or me, here are a couple more from that day, I might as well keep them in one thread
Both from Pett Level/Winchealsea, heavy crop

These are from a local garden that has a hide
This Chaffinch has a badly fungul/bumblefoot

I liked the way the surrounding colours matched the bluetit in this one

 

[Moadib]

Nice images. The lapwing and blue tit also look like beginning to get back into condition after a tough breeding season!

EDIT: They come out very well despite the heavy crop.