Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapidae)

A summer-plumaged Wheatear posing nicely at the Shotton Pools.

The Bluethroat is a scarce visitor to north east England with one or two records most years. In the last decade, the majority of sightings have been on Holy Island and the Farnes so when a bird was reported from the much more accessible location of Tynemouth, it was always going to be popular with local birdwatchers. The Bluethroat favoured the gardens around the Spanish Battery, showing well at times while looking for insects on the lawns. Present until the evening, it was not seen the following day having likely departed for the breeding grounds in Scandinavia overnight.

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.