Nice surprise today. I was still waiting to see my first Wheatear of the year and what should turn up instead but a Desert Wheatear. Better still it was just a ten minute walk from home, on the beach at Goring Gap.
Ten minutes away it may have been but I didn't hang around. The beach is a big dog walking area and on a sunny Sunday afternoon would be very busy. I was concerned that the bird would be flushed and I would miss it.
Fortunately it's behaviour was similar to previous Desert Wheatears that I have seen. It didn't seem to be bothered by people or dogs and when it was disturbed, it quickly returned to the area in which it had been foraging.
This is probably an inexperienced first winter male and it's a long way from home. Desert Wheatears have breeding grounds in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia and are usually short range migrants staying close to those areas.
A few do turn up each year in the UK as vagrants but the numbers are small, with only two records per year on average. Why do they travel so far from home? Perhaps they just follow the Northern Wheatears when the migrate back from Africa to Northern Europe.
Whatever the reason for it being here this was a great bird to see so my thanks to the finder for reporting it so quickly. A rare vagrant it may be but this is now my second within walking distance of home.
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