Hello all,
Just a quick note to say this smashing Siberian Stonechat has been frequenting the cliff top about 50 -100mtrs south of the Howick Burn footbridge for the last few days. Found by a visiting birder from Wales on Sunday, his first day up here on holiday, it has been showing very well, feeding around the tops of scrub and umbellifers. It can be seen flycatching quite easily, I have even seen it from my patch by looking from the north end of the bridge!
It is a lot paler than our own Stonechats, looking more like a Whinchat but without the white eyestripes. These birds breed way out to the east of Asia and are rare visitors to the UK. Its about 12 years since I last saw one in Northumberland, but they were reasonably common in China when I was there in 2008...
At the time of writing I haven't heard if it has been seen today but it was still around yesterday. Its well worth a try to see if it is still there...
Stewart. ( Photo courtesy of Ian Fisher)
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