Please help identify.

Please can you help in identifying this bird?

The photos were taken in a hurry before the bird could fly away. I have tried to improve the photos, with what I hope is a better image on the right hand side.  

I saw this second bird, that flew off as I grabbed my camera.  

Please can you confirm that this is a juvenile robin rather than a juvenile black redstart, as we have been lucky enough in the past to see both in the hedges that border our garden.

Would a juvenile black redstart always have a red/orange edge to it's tail feathers?  My bird book seems to suggest that the juvenile redstart would have a spottier belly. Thank you. 

  • Sorry nobody has replied yet...thing are a little quiet on here as of late.
    I believe your 1st bird is a Dunnock

    Your second am torn between a Dunnock and a Robin....my juvenile Robins are a bit more lighter brown and spotty and juvenile dunnocks are a bit more rich in colour with pinkish beak!

    Let's hope the experts put us out of our misery soon now I have bumped you back up the page ;-)

    (Pardon the Scottish Accent)

  • My offering would be juvenile Robin for the last photo. See what others think :-)
  • Hi Billysdad
    Thanks for your advice of juvenile Robin.
  • I'm seeing Dunnocks...........

    For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

  • We all want something different LJB but I ain't ever seen Seymour been wrong as long as I have been here!

    (Pardon the Scottish Accent)

  • Sorry seem to have missed some messages here.
    If you have such confidence in Seymour, I too will go along with Dunnock, as after all I had come to this website to ask for advice and help.
    I had initially thought it was probably a robin due to my lack of experience but wanted to rule out the black redstart that has previously visited the garden before as the juveniles looked very similar in my book. Dave's information was interesting and I would consider looking at the website again, for another species.
    Given the adult Dunnock was seen in a neighbouring hedgerow, this juvenile dunnock has decided to take a shortcut through my garden,
    I think next time, I will just be happy to see a juvenile and maybe not question the species as from the comments below I am not sure if you are unhappy that I opted for it being a general juvenile rather than a particular species. I had opted for dunnock, or robin or redstart as all been suggested and I didn't think we had reached a conclusive point.
  • It is a rather old clunky site this and things get missed as notifications don't always work or newbies can't always find where their post is again.

    There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on here and I have learned lots from them only to forget most of it again lol

    It's bad enough trying to identify adult birds in their different plumage never mind fledglings but that's what makes it fun.

    Sorry for being blunt but had assumed you had read all which you hadn't.

    Seymour tends to let us all guess 1st then  he sometimes comes in to confirm or tell us all where we went wrong...especially when it comes to Warblers!! Lol

    Hope I haven't put you off using the site with my bluntness today...am a typical Scot lol

    (Pardon the Scottish Accent)

  • I like the RSPB Handbook of British Birds. It is very informative without being too in depth. I have the 2018 edition which can now be bought on Amazon - ''In very good condition', for a mere £2.91 including postage. Which I think is great value. There is a new edition available, which is probably why the earlier on is so cheap.

  • Thank you all.

    Had a quick look and the RSPB Handbook looks very good.
    I will have a look this evening at your other suggestions.
    I have a well used copy of the Wildguides.
    As Pete has suggested, I will look at a book with hand drawings to see if this illustrates the differences between the species better for me.