Will

@hashygeek

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Snow Buntings are large buntings, with striking 'snowy' plumages. Males in summer have all white heads and underparts contrasting with a black mantle and wing tips. Females are a more mottled above. In autumn and winter birds develop a sandy/buff wash to their plumage and males have more mottled upperparts. Globally, they breed around the arctic from Scandinavia to Alaska, Canada and Greenland and migrate south in winter. They are a scarce breeding species in the UK, in Scotland, making them an Amber List species. They are more widespread in winter in the north and east when residents are joined by continental birds. They are listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act, making it illegal to disturb Snow Buntings.

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Snipe are medium sized, skulking wading birds with short legs and long, straight bills. Both sexes are mottled brown above, with paler buff stripes on the back, dark streaks on the chest and pale under parts. They are widespread as a breeding species in the UK, with particularly high densities on northern uplands but lower numbers in southern lowlands (especially south west England). In winter, birds from northern Europe join resident birds. The UK population of Snipe has undergone moderate declines overall in the past twenty-five years, with particularly steep declines in lowland wet grassland, making it an Amber List species.

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The Smew is a compact diving duck with a delicate bill. The male is white with a black mask and a black back, the female is grey with a reddish-brown head and white cheek. In flight, it shows black and white wings. It's a winter visitor in small numbers from Scandinavia and Russia. Sometimes birds move here from Holland and Denmark to escape freezing weather. Little is known about this bird on its breeding grounds.

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The Skylark is a small brown bird, larger than a sparrow but smaller than a starling. It is streaky brown with a small crest – which can be raised when the bird is excited or alarmed – and a white-sided tail. The wings also have a white rear edge which is visible in flight. It's known for its display flight, vertically up in the air. Its recent and dramatic population declines make it a Red List species.

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The Siskin is a small, lively finch, smaller than a Greenfinch. It has a distinctly forked tail and a narrow bill. The male has a streaky yellow-green body and a black crown and bib. There are yellow patches in the wings and tail. It's a resident breeder from southern England to northern Scotland, but is most numerous in Scotland and Wales. Many breeding birds are residents but in winter, birds also arrive here from Europe.

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Shovelers are surface feeding ducks with huge spatula-shaped bills. Males have dark green heads, with white breasts and chestnut flanks. Females are mottled brown. In flight, birds show patches of light blue and green on their wings. In the UK, they breed in southern and eastern England, especially around the Ouse Washes, the Humber and the North Kent Marshes and in much smaller numbers in Scotland and western parts of England. In winter, breeding birds move south, and are replaced by an influx of continental birds from further north. The UK is home to more than 20 percent of the north-west European population, making it an Amber List species.

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Short-eared Owls are medium sized owls with mottled brown bodies, pale under-wings and yellow eyes. They are often seen hunting during the day. In winter, there's an influx of continental birds (from Scandinavia, Russia, Iceland) to northern, eastern, and parts of central southern England, especially around the coast. They are of European conservation concern and so are an Amber List species.

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A distinctive lark with yellow and black face markings and black 'horns' (feather tufts) in breeding plumage. They are usually only found on the coast. Numbers can vary greatly from one winter to the next. In a good year, a few hundred may be present but, in others, they can be very rare. Watch for them shuffling their way across shingle and sandy beaches.

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This is a big, colourful duck, bigger than a Mallard but smaller than a goose. Both males and females have a dark green head and neck, a chestnut belly stripe and a red bill.

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Shags are dark, goose-sized birds with long necks. They look similar to Cormorants but are smaller and slimmer with a distinctive steep forehead. In the breeding season, adults develop a dark glossy green plumage and an obvious crest (head feathers) on the front of their head that curves forward. In the UK, they breed on coastal sites – mainly in the north and west – and more than half of their population is found at less than 10 sites, making them a Red List species. Shags usually stay within 100-200km of their breeding grounds.

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Serins are small finches with stubby bills and forked tails. Both males and females have streaky yellow brown upper parts, paler streaked under parts and lemon yellow rumps. Males have bright yellow heads with darker patches on the crown and below the eye, females and juveniles are browner in colour and less distinctive. Since the 1960s, serins have been recorded yearly in the UK in small numbers and have bred sporadically since the 1970s (in Devon, Dorset, Sussex, East Anglia and the Jersey) but no more than one or two pairs a year.

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The Sedge Warbler is a small, quite plump warbler with a striking broad creamy stripe above its eye and greyish-brown legs. It's brown on top with blackish streaks and creamy white underneath. It's a summer visitor, and spends winters in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. Its song is a noisy, rambling warble compared to the more rhythmic song of the Reed Warbler.

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The Scottish Crossbill is a thick-set finch with a large head and bill. It's very difficult to distinguish from the other members of the crossbill family. It's the UK's only endemic bird species (one found nowhere else in the world).

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Savi's Warbler is right on the edge of its range here in the UK, and its numbers have always been very low and difficult to see. Like most of this family, it's heard before it is seen, with a similar song to the Grasshopper Warbler but less persistent. Patiently watching where the sound is coming from will eventually result in the sight of a warm brown warbler, clinging to a reed.

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The Sandwich Tern is mostly white, with a black cap on its head, a black bill with a yellow tip and short black legs. In flight, it shows grey wedges on its wing tips and it has a forked tail. In the UK, many of the important groups survive because they're on nature reserves.

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The Sanderling is a small, plump, energetic wading bird. It has a short and straight black bill and medium length black legs. It's pale grey on top and white underneath, and has a black mark on its shoulder where the folded wing meets the body. It does not breed in the UK, but is a winter visitor and passage migrant in spring and autumn, journeying to and from its high Arctic breeding grounds.

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Sand Martins are the smallest European hirundines (the collective name for martins and swallows). They have dark brown upper parts and dark under wings, contrasting with pale under parts divided by a distinctive dark chest stripe. They are agile fliers, feeding mainly over water. Look out for them perching on overhead wires or branches. They are sociable in the breeding season and winter. During the past 50 years the European population has crashed on two occasions as a result of drought in the birds' African wintering grounds.

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The Ruff is a medium-sized wading bird. It has a long neck, a small head, a short, slightly droopy bill and medium-long orange or reddish legs. In flight, it shows a faint wing-stripe and oval white patches either side of the tail. It breeds in just a few lowland sites in eastern England and it appears numbers are dropping. It's usually a migrant bird but, in the UK, some birds are present all year round. Many young birds from Scandinavia visit the UK in late summer, before migrating on to Africa. It is listed under Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

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Ruddy Ducks are small and stout freshwater diving ducks with broad, short wings and narrow, stiff tails. The male Ruddy Duck has a bright chestnut body, black crown, white cheeks and blue bill. They swim buoyantly, often with the tail cocked up, and can also gradually go underwater without diving. They hardly ever leave the water, and are very ungainly on land. This species is subject to a Government-led eradication programme. As a result, the UK population of Ruddy Ducks now stands at less than 100 birds.

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A bird of prey very similar to the much more common Buzzard, though only a small number spend winter in the UK. It has the habit of 'hanging' in the air while looking for prey, hovering much more often than Common Buzzards. Key features include the black-tipped white tail, paler appearance than most Common Buzzards, longer wings and paler head. Beware of pale Common Buzzards, they're a hugely variable species. A close view will reveal the heavily feathered legs that give this bird its name.

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