Siberian Stonechat at Hollesley
Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maurus maurus at Hollesley Marshes December 1st 2019 into 2020 Craig Shaw Finding it So here I am sat in my new home in Hollesley starting my RSPB Garden Birdwatch and writing a piece on the finding of the Siberian Stonechat. Moving home is a stressful process, but birding and going out with the dogs, when not at work keeps me going. Unfortunately, winter is here, which is good for birds but not great for afterwork-birding due to its being dark. I have to make the most of the weekends and having a very good new patch helps. I’ve moved from Corton near Lowestoft, which is good for migrants and seawatching, but quite depressing for most of the year. Hollesley RSPB is the new patch with more water-based habitat, fields for geese and some seawatching still to be had, so it should hold some interest all-year-round and has certainly done that so far. Over 110 species in about 12 weeks! Anyway, back to the Stonechat. I started straight away familiarising myself with the new patch, covering as much as possible on foot and finding some cracking habitat. Covering more of the site helps in getting lucky and finding that real goodie. However, I didn’t quite anticipate that it would happen after only two weeks! On the morning of December 1st, I had covered the flash and started heading towards the river bank picking up two European Stonechats Saxicola rubicola. As I got further along the bank, another more-distant Stonechat caught my eye but this bird was extremely pale. It was pouring with rain so I waited and watched for a little time before getting the camera out and reeling off a few record shots. At this point I knew I had something very good; my thoughts were of the Eastern Stonechat that I had seen in Nottinghamshire and one I had seen at Caister in Norfolk in October 2015. I put out a couple of pictures to social media and sure enough, without prompting, people’s immediate reaction was that this bird was indeed an “Eastern” Stonechat.
The Siberian Stonechat at Hollesley Marshes, December 61
Peter Kennerley
