Great Grey Shrikes bring to mind the image of a pale sentinel perched silently on a hawthorn bush. These handsome northern migrants which overwinter here in small numbers never fail to delight, and are always a thrilling part of a successful autumn or winter day’s birding.

The two bean geese, both scarce visitors, need to be separated from the much commoner Pink-footed Goose. Keith Vinicombe explains how.

Illustrations: Ren Hathway.

Key featured species

• Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus
• Tundra Bean Goose Anser serrirostris
• Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis

This tiny ‘sprite’ of a warbler is a delight to find in autumn, whether it’s fluttering high in a Sycamore somewhere on the east coast or calling from a grove of trees on Scilly.

Richard’s and Tawny Pipits are both scarce autumn visitors to Britain, and juveniles especially can be bafflingly similar. Keith Vinicombe explains what to look out for when you find a mystery large pipit.

Illustrations: Ren Hathway.

Key featured species

• Richard’s Pipit Anthus richardi
• Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris

Female and juvenile Common and Black Redstarts on migration aren’t as straightforward to identify as breeding birds. Keith Vinicombe points out the key features that separate them.

Illustrations: Ren Hathway.

Key featured species

• Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus
• Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros

Being a bird of the open seas, Sabine’s Gull is a tricky species to see and seawatching and pelagic trips are usually your best options. However, September storms sometimes blow individuals inland, giving landlocked birders a rare opportunity to put the species on their list.

In the June 2008 print edition of Birdwatch (192: 21) we published a letter and photo from Steve Wood concerning a mystery seabird resembling the near-mythical Vanuatu Petrel that he had photographed at sea near the Kermadec Islands, off northern New Zealand, in March 2006. Among other comments, Steve Wood quoted Hadoram Shirihai’s initial support for the putative identification. However, subsequent field experience and research point in a different direction to the bird’s identity.

Here, Hadoram Shirihai provides an updated view on that much-debated Pterodroma petrel:

Sandwiched between Western Australia and Queensland, Northern Territory is affectionately known as the Top End. The tropical climate of the area around Darwin, the regional capital, supports some amazing wildlife, as Ian Lycett recently discovered.

The rarest member of its family breeding in Britain, Roseate Tern can, with care, be reliably distinguished from the closely related Common and Arctic Terns. Keith Vinicombe explains how.

Illustrations by Ren Hathway.

Key featured species

• Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii
• Common Tern Sterna hirundo
• Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea 

Scientists from Earthwatch, the international environmental charity, are conducting the first detailed ecological study of the rare and little known White-necked Rockfowl. 

In an excerpt from the new Sound Approach book Petrels Night and Day, Magnus Robb recounts his adventures visiting storm-petrel colonies, and reveals that sound-recording these oceanic waifs can be more than a little hazardous.

It’s not often that British waters offer the chance of an albatross, so a final opportunity organised by Rare Bird Alert to see the returning Black-browed on Sula Sgeir this May is not to be missed.

Yellow-browed and Pallas’s Warblers are not only increasing as autumn visitors but, like Firecrest, also overwintering. Keith Vinicombe highlights the field marks of these three ‘sprites’.  

Artwork: Ren Hathway.  

Key featured species

• Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus
• Pallas’s Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus
• Firecrest Regulus ignicapilla 

Although unmistakable in its bright and colourful breeding plumage, Red-necked Grebe may pose some identification problems in winter, when it is more frequently encountered.