Arctic Redpoll, Hazelwood Common, Suffolk, 2 December 2017

I decided to give this elusive bird a go today and elusive it was indeed! In 3 hours on site I managed just 3 views in bushes beside the track just down from the small carpark. It was with a loose flock of c20 Lesser Redpolls and 2-3 Mealy Redpolls feeding in a weedy set-aside field and popping up into bushes very occasionally. A classic 'exilipes' Coues Arctic Redpoll, very pale with white rump, frosty upperparts, a straw-tinged head/upper breast and very faint diffuse flank streaks. The light was pretty dreadful for photography but latterly the sun came out and I managed one shot in good light! There was also a large and very dark Redpoll present which I managed a shot of. It looks promising for a possible Greenland Redpoll
Also there were a fly-over Little Egret, Curlew, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Redwings.

Arctic Redpoll

    Arctic Redpoll (right) with 2 Lesser Redpolls  

putative Greenland Redpoll