A Stonechat Surprise!

This time the post should be called 'Running Late'.

On Thursday I came across a bird quite unexpected in early July at Cockersands when I found a juvenile Stonechat on a fence wire accompanied by 2 Reed Bunting and 2 Meadow Pipit. 

For the second time running my sole purpose for the visit to Cockersands was to check out the Ringed Plover chicks on Plover Scar to find them alive and well until I left at 4.45pm. Other notes on Plover Scar, 7 Ringed Plover in total included the family of five and two other adults, 8 Golden Plover, 2 Grey Plover, a Common Sandpiper, and 2 Eider off here.

The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock showed the geese once again represented by 17 Canada Geese, and 5 Greylag, whilst 3 Pink-footed Geese have been reduced from the recently seen five, a Little Egret also seen.

Grey Wagtail Simon Hawtin  

At Conder Green, the Common Sandpiper count remains at twelve, with c.120 Redshank noted, 5 Little Egret seen two of which were upstream from the A588 road bridge. A Little Grebe on Conder Pool was a new bird with the two recently in summer plumage nowhere to be seen. A Stock Dove was also on the pool, and 2 Grey Wagtail below the road bridge is a species I've only recorded at Conder Green twice in more than two years.

Stonechat Juvenile. Copy Permitted.

All in all, Thursday was a bit of birding with some added interest for me, not least of all the Stonechat at Cockersands. Precisely what this bird was doing here, and even more interesting where it had come from is anyone's guess, maybe down from the uplands of Bowland, a local coastal bred youngster....I think not. 

First brood Stonechats may begin to disperse as early as June, but the first autumn passage birds are more usually seen in late July/early August. So a juvenile Stonechat at Cockersands on 3 July was something like a month ahead of my expectancy of seeing one here, and 2 months earlier than the main passage in September. The autumn passage of Stonechat in our area is usually regarded as no better than poor.