Stonechats Through The Roof.

With birding off the cards now, the March passage of Stonechat is almost certainly over, but there has been an excellent and unprecedented passage through Lancashire this year. I have noted up to 160 Stonechat in records collected throughout the month from the FBC website alone, which include a truly remarkable 91 Stonechat seen by AC as at 24 March, I reckon with this result he's the happiest birder in the UK. 

Looking back through the LDBWS Annual Reports over the past 10 years, the best counts of spring passage was of 74 Stonechat in 2015, and 54 Stonechat in 2018, both records to the end of March. The other 50% of records show no passage figures at all in these reports.

Stonechat. Paul Foster. Clik the pik

A few people have been in touch with me in the past few days, including Paul Foster who sent me this image of the Siberian Stonechat maurus, seen on his recent visit to Cyprus, Thanks Paul. Also thanks to Martin Jump for the header image of the displaying Great-crested Grebes. 

Garden Update.

Two Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock. KT and I were treated to excellent views of not one but two Wood Mouse together, they were feeding on spilt bird seed for 15 minutes, watched from the patio window as we ate our tea....Great Stuff. 

Elton John is gifted with a singer/song writer talent ranked as one of the best in the world. He performed Yellow Brick Road with Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, New York in 2000, in front of a capacity of almost 20,000. 

It follows Mr Blue Sky in it's attempt to get us all out of the black hole which is Covid-19....It did me, and this 4.45 mins did too....Music to uplift the spirits.

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