Satellite male ruff, Martin Mere

I was in the area today so called in at Martin Mere for a brief visit. Right in front of the Discovery hide was this impressive "satellite" male ruff. Also today at least one Siberian chiffchaff still at the sewage works, adult Mediterranean gull, great white egret, two avocets on the mere, barn owl and at least five marsh harriers.

These satellite males are interesting birds. As most birders know, (though not everybody so hence the explanation here), male ruff in breeding plumage have spectacular ruffs like Elizabethan gentlemen which is what gives them their name. Males take part in what's known as a leck where they battle to impress the females. It's similar to rutting stags.

The ruffs come in a variety of colours but birds with white ruffs are known as satellite males. They're not usually very successful when it comes to breeding except that they sometimes hang around the edge of the leck and when a female shows interest in mating with a dominant male, the satellites take their opportunity by getting in quick while the dominant male is still at the leck, mating with the female and then running away!  🤦‍♂️

I don't know if the satellites remain satellites for all of their life or if they can become dominant males themselves. The bird in the photo is not yet in full breeding plumage.

When I arrived at the sewage works all I could see were common chiffchaffs collybita, but after a short while I heard a Siberian chiffchaff call "peeep". Eventually I saw it in the hedge and you can clearly see how jet black it's legs and feet are in the photos.  Also note the lack of yellow in the plumage and rusty ear coverts. 

A few minutes later there was another "peeep" from a bush near the stream and I saw two birds in there, both of which looked good candidates for Siberian. One of them though I wasn't 100% certain, so given that I couldn't be certain that the bird in the photos wasn't the same as the one in the bush, the best I can say is there were between one and three Sibe's present today.

Mediterranean gull.