Sally and I took Guy Gibbon with us today to check out the Quail.

We went to see whether it has a blue belly and chestnut ‘shoulders’ and flanks (Blue Quail) or a chestnut belly, blue flanks and brown shoulders (Chinese Painted Quail) – as per advice from Derek Spencer and Dave Allan.

Guy’s verdict:  The bird is very definitely a Chinese Painted Quail with chestnut belly and blue flanks. It is quite comfortable in garden shrubbery and not at all concerned with human presence.

Here are a couple of poor pictures which validate the identification.

Paul & Sally Bartho