Peter Jones, "Hampshire Diary"

• Thursday, June 25, 2009 - Garden "purple patch" continues with a White Admiral

It's all happening in June, and most of my excitement is from the garden! This lunchtime, a White Admiral glided through the back garden most unexpected, and three Ravens soared high over the village. Checked out the birdguides free quiz at:   http://www.birdguides.com/iris/quiz.asp Result below.. I'm "above average".. Hallelujah! So.. for every 10 Pipits I see: two I get wrong, or more likely think "What the hell were those two!" (No one likes to admit to getting anything wrong!) A bit concerning that the average is only 1 more than a monkey randomly hitting keys! Would be interesting to know what identification criteria was being used. Apart from habitat, song, call, and time of year which weren't much help in the photos, I only know the pencil thin lines on the flanks as a diagnostic feature off the top of my head, but that was good enough 8 times out of 10! Looking at some of the birdforum identification threads, I often wonder if people try to look "too" close sometimes, often citing really obscure, unreliable, or "almost impossible to interpret in the field" identification features, or even hallucinating things they want to see or hear. Worrying thing is we could all be unconsciously guilty of that! Did I actually hear a Nightjar two nights ago, or was it a central heating extractor fan?! (Luckily I saw them the following night, so the answer to that one is "yes"!) Take a look at   http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=142133 and post num.18. I can see a thin bill.. but the other features, sure they depict a Willow Warbler, but can you make them out from the photos?! I'll give him the thin bill, but green upperparts, orange base to lower mandible, and emarginations on 3 Primaries?! Having said that, he is also correct by the look of it.

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