Antiques Roadshow!

I was in receipt of an e-mail yesterday. The message had an image attached which contained the most interesting record of a Stonechat I ever saw. 

The e-mail, record, and photograph is credited to Ian Mitchell, and is of a male Stonechat which he found at the rear of the house he had recently moved in to at Altham Road on the Westgate Estate, Morecambe 47 years ago in late September 1975.

The photograph was taken on an instamatic style camera when Westgate was in its infancy to becoming the huge housing estate it is today, hence the landscape where the picture was taken at the time, resembles a building site, and looks more akin to the habitat of a Black Redstart than that of a Stonechat.

From the first record in the LDBWS Annual Reports 1959, and for 38 years the Stonechat was recorded as 'no evidence of recent breeding' (1959) and 'no breeding records' (1997). Though the report does mention Morecambe twice, in 1963 'a male found dead in Morecambe during a cold winter spell' and in 1968 'breeds sporadically at one location in Morecambe'.

Historically the Stonechat in our area was scarce until 1999 when the species saw an upturn in status until the harsh winters of 2009/10/11, after which the records reverted near to pre 1999 numbers. For 12 years I comprehensively monitored the rise and fall of the Stonechat in Bowland. 

Ian Mitchell's record of this male at Westgate Morecambe in 1975, whilst out of the public domain, has been the best kept secret of a Stonechat in the LDBWS area for 47 years.