Was about to head out the door yesterday when news came in of a possible italian sparrow at East Budleigh, Devon. Well I had to take a look! When I arrived at about 2:30pm, there were plenty of sparrows entering and leaving the garden and things were looking promising. 30 minutes in and it starting pouring. I waited until 4pm, but the birds were refusing to show in the poor weather, so I decided to head home and try again tomorrow.
I got up early morning and managed to break my phone scoping adapter, good start. Arrived on site at around 8:30am. A short look from the same spot from yesterday produced only a few sparrows. A number of birders had walked further up the road where the bird had also been reported. As they hadn't come back yet, I decided to head up. Quite a few people were at the top end. A large number of sparrows could be heard across the gardens, but very few were visible. After most of the birders had moved off, the call went up. After a bit of searching through the scope, I was watching the potential ITALIAN SPARROW! I waited until 12:30, in which time the bird only showed a couple more times before the feeders ran dry. It was surprisingly distinctive with it's gleaming white cheeks, brown crown, small bib and white in-front and behind of the eye. Needless to say, I failed to get a record shot by free-hand through the scope.
The classification of these birds seems somewhat confused, I'll be sure to do some more complete research into this if/when I get time. None-the-less, I'm very glad I went and saw this - birding isn't just about ticks!
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