Brownwich- Greenland Wheatear To be or Not to be ?

On the 10th september i went for a stroll up onto Brownwich in the hope of finding a rare. The first rare was a Vestal moth almost a week after the 3 i had found up there. Was it a new moth in,i`m not sure. It was very slow until i heard a Chat like call `chack` `chack` and the black & white tail,Sandy grey back of a wheatear flew away from me and landed not that far away. Now normally i would just walk off but this bird was an obvious male,very striking in appearance,and stood bolt upright.

It had a striking supercillium,that contrasted with the colour of the head which was a mixture of grey with a sandy wash. The underparts were an apricot colour that extended from the bill right down to the end of the undertail coverts.The undertail coverts in Northern Wheatear would be white but can show some sandy colour but not like this. Its nape and back were grey but at most angles had this sandy colour wash. The upper wing coverts were pale edged contrasting with the dark wings.

The Greenland wheatear has one of the most arduous journeys from Greenland down into West Africa some covering up to 9000 miles. And here was one and then i noticed that close alongside was a female type. Very much the same `gizz`as the male and the colouration being an apricot colour, but i would not say either way if it was a female Greenland, as Greenland and the nominate are very much the same in look and also overlap in biometrics. Happy that the male was a Greenland i continued on my way,and then up near the cliff top cross path from Thatchers copse i stumbled on another male. This bird was just as striking but the under colour was not as strong as the previous male but the `gizz` was perfect,and a female type as well showing the same `gizz`.

2 Male Greenlands and what would appear to be 2 female Greenlands or nominate,what a nice morning as there then proceeded to be nothing else to see apart from the few Meadow pipits. I managed to grab a couple of shaky heat haze images that at least show the true colouration of the males. Good luck Greenlands !

Brownwich 04/09/2013

This morning the kids all went back to their relevant schools, Yah !!! after the school holidays. And with this came a few hours of freedom,so off i went to Titchfield Haven on the hunt for the Osprey that has been seen over the last couple of mornings. Missed it again, this time it was watched about 0920 hrs where yesterday it was at 0830 hrs. So i went up onto Brownwich for the first of my Autumn walks, it was very slow birding when i flushed a small moth in flight and made me think that it may be a Vestal. Sure enough it was indeed The Vestal.

I had first seen one of these moths in 1987 on the Isles of Scilly in the middle of the Philadelphia Vireo twitch,it being if i remember rightly a first for the isles. As i carried on walking about i managed to flush another 2 this now being the most Vestals (3) i had seen at any one time in the UK,bloody magic !

The birding was very slow but as i got back round to the main path  on the Eastern side of Brownwich i managed a little flurry of birds,the highlight being Lesser Whitethroat.

Totals :

Birds

Mediterranean Gull  131 flew over

Yellow wagtail  15

Linnet 11

Willow Warbler 3

Lesser Whitethroat 1 juv

Barn Swallow  200+ hunting over the fields & cliffs

Butterflies & Moths

Clouded Yellow 1 TH

The Vestal 3

And this all in the mid-morning,really should try for an early morning