hybrid Chat

This unassuming brown bird was discovered by Marsden Quarry in late October, remaining there for a number of days.

Identification was a little uncertain at first, with the bird showing features consistent with Siberian Stonechat and reported as such at first. However, with more images available, there were some inconsistencies in plumage characters in comparison to that species and the consensus settled on this bird being a hybrid between Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maurus) and Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).

There have only been a small number of cases of such hybridisation reported, making this a very rare sighting.