Thrush - like ; Wales UK. (1 Viewer)

[Fountain]

Large, larger than a mistle thrush, more like collard dove size. Flew up high from ground, very fast wing beats, around in circles at height and then off east. I managed to grab a snap that could id? Thanks.

 

[aeshna5]

Fieldfare-note the grey rump.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Skylark, isn't it?

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Agree - looks like a skylark

 

[Butty]

grey rump

Rump isn't visible in this photo. I guess you are looking at vent+undertail-coverts.

 

[PaulCountyDurham]

Large, larger than a mistle thrush, more like collard dove size. Flew up high from ground, very fast wing beats, around in circles at height and then off east. I managed to grab a snap that could id? Thanks.

Interesting picture. I would say a skylark rather than a fieldfare going off the lack of speckles on the body nearest the wings. The sound of these two birds is like chalk and cheese, so that should tell you. If the sound was a beautiful, captivating sound then it will have been a skylark. Then again, larger than a mistle thrush would suggest fieldfare, although Deb once said to me that size at a quick glance can be deceiving and it certainly is. The other day, a bird was sat in a tree right next to where I was standing, although I didn't see her until she flew off because she was by the other side of the trunk. It was obvious this bird was a bird of prey, and it looked the colour of a female kestrel but far too big. She looked massive in that moment. Anyway, she circled around for a while and came back my way and flew past. She was indeed a female kestrel, and based on that short flight out of the tree I would have said too big for a female kestrel.

 

[Southern Frogmouth]

Very fast wing beats doesn't work for a Fieldfare either. Size can be very difficult to accurately assess without something of known size to compare it to. Skylark for me too.

 

[THE_FERN]

Rump isn't visible in this photo. I guess you are looking at vent+undertail-coverts.

I think we can just see an indication of the rump and it does look greyish. But this is definitely a skylark for me: head pattern, extent of breast band, lack of clear (="strong") white belly and under wings, and short tail.

 

[Fountain]

Thank you all kindly for your thoughts.

What does not tally is the size, I am well versed with skylarks and fieldfares having them here all summer/winter. I watched this bird break cover a kilometer away, it flew up infront of conifers and was withouh doubt Merlin to sparrowhawk size...which is what I initially suspected it to be...with its very fast wing beats of its large wings.

I appreciate 1 photo is hard to interprit and I did adjust it for gamma. So here are the other shots I took either side , unedited, just cropped.

Though Skylark id may not be wrong- it was a an outsized version!

 

[lou salomon]

it's a skylark. in the field, size is a notorically misintrepreted feature.

 

[Butty]

in the field, size is a notorically misintrepreted feature.

👍🏻👍🏻
The classic quote is... 'Judging the size of a lone bird is notoriously unreliable.' In assessing field descriptions, I pretty much ignore (anybody's) description of size unless the bird was seen alongside a bird of known ID.