“Unmistakeable” - a reassuring description in field guides for some birds that you have a confident identification. “More heavily-streaked”, “larger than” or darker than” feel less encouraging. Kingfisher has to be in the unmistakeable group – bright blue and orange perched on a branch, but often all you see is a flash of blue along a river. I think there’s nothing you could confuse with Long-tailed tit either. At this time of year there are roving bands of these little creamy-pink and grey birds in woodland or in gardens in the bird-bath and picking tiny insects off bushes.

Less straightforward for identification are the LBJs - little brown jobs. This is a group of unrelated but similar-looking birds, often with different amounts of streaky patterns as well as being small and brown, including House sparrow, Meadow pipit, Dunnock and Skylark. Flicking through the pages of a field guide, or if you’re an experienced birder, you’ll be able to add to any confusion with other less-common species of streaky brown birds. The photo is of a Meadow Pipit which jumped onto a wall long enough for a clear view.

The detail in images of perfectly-posed birds in field guides, or lucky photos, is not the information I use most. It’s often a combination of other features such as how they behave and where or when they’re seen that are used to help identify birds. Even for those “unmistakeable” species.

In gardens, Dunnock and House sparrow are the most common LBJs. Dunnocks are dark brown, very streaky and often seen on the ground whereas House sparrows happily perch on feeders. The female House sparrows are grey-brown while the males are warm-brown.

In fields and fells, Meadow pipit and Skylark are common around the Dales. Groups of them are very active now, flitting behind tussocks of grass, so that good views of streaky patterns and colours are not easy to get. At this time of year the calls help to identify them. Tseep, tseep from groups of Meadow pipit but a more confident sprrt, sprrt from Skylark.

It’s a good time of year to watch birds and practice some identification, with more birds around after this year’s breeding season. Compare the range of brown tones of juveniles and adults. Mixed flocks can be seen and help with building identification confidence. You may also find something more unusual in a mixed flock. With practice, even LBJs can be unmistakeable. Usually.