The Standlake Birder

Western Siberian Stonechat   There are three species of stonechat on the BOU british list, the common european stonechat plus its two much rarer cousins, the Siberian and Stejneger's stonechats. The Siberian species is further split into two sub species, western and eastern. Stejneger's stonechat breeds in eastern Asia and migrates to southern China in winter. The Siberian stonechat breeds in most of temperate Asia and the far north west of Europe. It winters in southern Japan, Thailand, India and northeast Africa. Stejneger's Stonechat Identification of the two Asia species is very tricky in the field and formal identification normally requires a DNA sample. These can be obtained from intestinal cells in the birds poo. The DNA analysis normally takes four to eight weeks hence the bird has normally moved on before formal identification can be confirmed. I was lucky enough to see a Stejneger’s stonechat a few years ago in Norfolk but I still needed Siberian

  Stonechat With a bright cold winter’s day forecast, and the pit 60 area currently looking like a scene from waterworld, I decided to do something different on Sunday and head down to Kent. Now, the big advantage of getting up at silly o clock on a Sunday morning is that no one else is daft enough to do it. So with clear roads I arrived at my first destination, Reculver on the north coast of Kent, shortly after sunrise. I’ve been to this location several times before and have always enjoyed the long walk along the coastal path. From the car park you have to walk up the hill next to the ruined towers of Saint Mary’s church. The original church was built on the site of a Roman fort in 669 and the now truly impressive but sadly ruined towers were added in the 15 th century. A bracing north wind was blowing but the lovely mid-winter sun lifted my spirts and made for a very enjoyable walk east along the coastal path towards cold harbour lagoon. The birding highlight of the walk

Snow Bunting To help kick-start my new year birding list I like to do a January trip to Norfolk where, hopefully, I will connect with the various east coast winter specialties. The short days this time of year require an early start to maximise the daylight birding on site. So with a forecast that was at least not dreadful on Monday I was up at silly o’clock and on my way.  My habit when driving to Norfolk is to take a small detour around the so called Wolferton triangle near Sandringham. This was, at least until recently, one of very few places you could still see Golden Pheasant in the UK. I’ve not seen one over the past 4 years and again there was no sign on Monday. Sadly, it looks as though this exotic gamebird is close to, or perhaps actually, nationally extinct. Maybe they have all been run over by a certain member of the royal family! My first port of call in Norfolk was the wonderful RSPB reserve at Titchwell. Not surprisingly, given the amount of the stuff t