Olive-backed Pipit!

Today we found the third-ever Olive-backed Pipit for Sussex while guiding Duncan and Alice at Cissbury Ring. Alarm bells rang when a pipit with a thin, buzzy call moved around the lower sections of some bushes by one of the northern paths. Eventually it appeared in the open for a few seconds before flying off north-west.

Note the bold head pattern on the Olive-backed Pipit, with a bolder supercillium than Tree Pipit and pale and dark spots at the rear of the ear coverts

The two prevous records were at Seaford in 2003 and Beachy Head in 1987.

It just goes to show, you never know what you're going to encounter on a day in the field, and Duncan and Alice certainly went home with an excellent bonus bird!

Also note the very bold and well-defined breast streaking