Dorset Birding is typically quiet for Spring migrant Passerines by late May, except for maybe a late Spotted Flycatcher or Reed Warbler. It is even quieter in June. But it is still worth getting out in case a goodie has appeared. I must admit that I was expecting to be focusing on breeding species & Butterflies on the St Aldhelms patch today. I caught a patch of white as something dived off a close wall out of the corner of my eye, but wasn't sure what it was. Looking over the wall, there were two Wheatears perched on a nearby bush. As I waiting they both dropped down to a bare patch in the field edge. The size, bulk, long legs & upright stance of the male looked good for it to be a Greenland Wheatear. In the field, I was less certain about the female, but she too looked big, bulky, long-legged and on one occasion had a good upright stance, but also adopted a more horizontal stance. But after comparing the photos, then this looks like a second Greenland Wheatear.
Greenland Wheatears are the leucorhoa subspecies which breeds in NE Canada, Greenland and Iceland and winters in West Africa. The nominate race of Wheatear, which is the one we are most likely to see in the UK, breeds in the British Isles to the Mediterranean, and East to Siberia, Alaska, and NW Canada (Yukon) and winters in Central Africa.
