Chats are moving south, but some are stragglers from the far north like the late Wheatears are on their way to Sub-Saharan Africa and will keep on moving while others like our dapper little Stonechats may have come from not so far north and are just as likely to hang around all winter.
As proved by colour ringing recently, at least one of the birds that we have had at Rainham over the years was ringed in Norfolk as a nestling but only lingered one day on the marsh before moving on the next day, quite possibly to south-western Britain or even northern France! She then returned to Kelling Heath the following spring...
So, at the moment there is still chance of seeing both species on the trails and even a Whinchat was seen on Friday but that too will be hot on the heels of those Africa-bound Wheatears...
Wheatear (Lawrence Rogers)
Wheatear (Russ Sherriff)
Female Stonechat - you can count the feathers.... ten primaries.... (Russ Sherriff)
Male Stonechat (Lawrence Rogers)
23-10-14