1st winter Northern Wheatear at The Scrubs

Now, you might be saying, Wheatear at The Scrubs? What's so unusual about that?

Well, you would be right. As much as we enjoy having these migrants when they arrive, they are hardly unusual. I found this bird a couple days ago. I took a couple of record shots of this bird as it sallied from the tops of Blackthorns to catch and gobble up unseen and unfortunate insects.

When I saw it from behind I noticed how black its tail was. The average Northern Wheatear shows the classic inverted black 'T' with white tailsides and rump. This bird confused me but reading up on the literature it became apparent that 1st winter birds illustrated in my books seemed to have a similiar tail pattern. Perhaps the white tailsides of this particular bird have been unusually covered by the main black feathers. Perhaps I have always overlooked the tail patterns of young Northern Wheatears.

What do you think?