Water Pipits and Rock Pipits at Colyford Common, Seaton Wetlands, Devon.

Water Pipits - These superb winter visitors from continental Europe have been showing well on Colyford Common. They appear significantly paler than our ubiquitous Rock Pipits (see below), with prominent eye stripes and wing bars. I only picked out this one individual this morning although there are reports of over 5-7 present on the fresh water Colyford Common marsh near the boardwalk to Colyford hide:

There were a couple of Rock Pipits present on the marsh too which were nice to see as a comparison under the same lighting conditions. Appearing much darker in tone and more heavily streaked beneath than the Water Pipits and having less prominent eye stripes. This individual also showed typical yellow on the bill which was a nice detail to see on my photographs considering the dull overcast conditions.