Spanish sparrow

This little critter has been in a village in the New Forest for several months now. I haven't been able to quite summon up the enthusiasm to go and look at a sparrow, even though it is a very fancy sparrow, but coming back from Brighton today it wasn't much of detour.

The 'twitch' today was absurdly easy - we pulled into Calshot village, saw a little group of people with binoculars raised, parked on the verge behind them, got out of the car, and there it was. A UK first for me.

In case you're thinking it looks just like an ordinary sparrow, take a look at that black patch and black streaking on its breast. Male house sparrows are plain grey there.

As a bonus we stopped at Hawkhill enclosure near Brockenhurst and saw the overwintering dark-eyed junco. Followed by lunch in our favourite cafe, a pretty good day.