Which Redpoll?

Question

I noticed the mention of lesser Redpoll in a blog from The Lodge earlier today. Last winter I had Redpoll appear at my nyger feeder and I have to say that I hadn&rsquo;t really heard anything about Redpoll far less seen any. They stayed around for quite a number of weeks and numbers ranged from 1 &ndash; 2 to up to 10 - 15 at times. I&rsquo;ve heard that there are Lesser Redpoll, Mealy Redpoll, Common Redpoll and Arctic Redpoll. I would really appreciate it if a few questions could be answered for me regarding these cracking little birds. 
 
 Is there a breeding population in the UK? 
 What are the differences between the different types of Redpoll? 
 Was there an influx of Redpoll last winter compared to previous winters and if so, why? 
 Which type of Redpoll are we most likely to see in the UK? 
 Photo of one of the Redpolls at my feeders in early April 2013.

Thanks in advance 
 
 Paul

aiki · Accepted Answer

There are people here who know more about this than me but I'll get the ball rolling... Redpoll taxonomy is not really settled. But at present the BOU recognises three species - Lesser, Mealy (also known as Common) and Arctic (also known as Hoary). There are three recognised subspecies of Mealy and two of Arctic but I'm not going to worry about that for now :) 
 The only one of the three that breeds in Britain is Lesser Redpoll - it is also the most common redpoll here in winter. Mealy occurs as a winter visitor in highly variable numbers. Arctic is a scarce winter visitor. 
 The bird in your pic looks like a Lesser to me. It looks small and slight, with very brown tones. Mealy looks a burlier bird with paler and greyer tones and whitish wingbars; Arctic is paler still. 
 ETA - I was too slow to get the ball rolling!