Titchwell redpolls

After Cley on Friday I headed for Titchwell where the Yellow browed Warbler showed quite well among the sycamores from the Fen Hide path. Also close to the visitor centre was a mixed flock of redpolls, mostly Lessers but including 3 Mealies. One of the Mealies was especially pale and my first thoughts were that it was a candidate Coue's, but longer views confirmed it as a very well marked Mealy. Although it had initially showed some classic Coue's features including:
1. deep white rump
2. Pale blond/ chamois leather colour over the face and upper breast
3. white white g cov bar
4. very white underparts with a single very thin dark streak on the UTCs
5. overall cold grey appearance
6. small black bib
7. fluffy underparts and leg feathering

But a number of features are more Mealy than Coue's, the most important of which are:
1. the mantle has some real warm tones which are not always visible in all lights but are easier to see in the field than in photos
2. the bill looks Mealy long with no impression of the 'punched in' face of a classic Coue's (apparently biometrics don't really support a bill size difference but feathering at the base of Arctic's bills always seems to make the shape sifferent)
3. the flank streaking is heavy and the ground colour is darker than even the occasional darker chamois wash of a Coue's
4. the rump is not completely unstreaked - although this is still within the range of Coue's

It was sufficiently interesting to do a bit of interweb research and go back to some of my old Mealy and Coue's field notes and photos.

A range of photos below showing the different features.

The bird is quiet easy to pick up since its currently regrowing most of its tailfeathers.