On 7 February I received email messages from two reliable birding friends. The messages were info about Stonechats seen in areas where no wintering birds had been found, and both went on to suggest that Stonechat migration had already taken off.
But no-one could possibly have expected the truly spectacular phenomenon that was about to unfold so soon in the calendar in the first week of February to continue to the end of March.
Stonechat Moss Lane 3 March. Howard Stockdale.
Over 54 days from 7 February - 2 April, I have collected records from two sightings pages, in the main FBC and to a lesser degree LDBWS. I have recorded a staggering 394 Stonechat, all individual birds with no duplicate counts. Included in this extraordinary number of birds in such a short space of time, is the count of 112 Stonechat, including 14 seen in a couple of hours birding one day by the ever reliable AC.
History is in the making here, and repeating itself too....
The Stonechat in the LDBWS recording area, enjoyed a dramatic upturn in status 24 years ago in 1999. But it was short lived, and by 2007, numbers in the uplands of Bowland had started to decrease, with just 4 pairs and a maximum of 8 young on Clougha in 2010. Following two consecutive harsh winters in 2010/11, the decline was mirrored in my records, with only Hawthornthwaite producing one pair with 5 young. Records for 2012 showed no real recovery of the Stonechat in Bowland, and the fact that just two were found on Clougha during 2012 this situation continues today. Though breeding activity can be found at many upland sites, my experience says the population at the prime sites at Clougha/Birk Bank didn't and still hasn't recovered to their glory days of early 2000....But 394 on spring passage in 2023, seems to me to say all this is about to change.
Thanks to Simon Hawtin for his stunning image of the track off Hawthornthwaite Fell....True Stonechat country.
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