A Desert Wheatear at Keynsham 15th June 2025

I suppose it is serendipity that having just watched Bath Rugby Club narrowly defeat Leicester Tigers in the Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham on Saturday news came through on Birdguides of a male Desert Wheatear being discovered at the unlikely location of Somerdale Playing Fields in Keynsham  which is very close to Bath.

The report came through too late for me to consider going to see the wheatear that same day and anyway the bird had subsequently been reported as going to roost in nettles by the wooden boundary fence surrounding the playing fields

I decided that if it was reported as still present the next day I would make the ninety minute drive to Keynsham in the hope of seeing it.

Desert Wheatears are a rare vagrant to Britain although an average of four or five turn up most years and records are thought to be increasing. Up to the end of 2023 one hundred and seventy four have been recorded in Britain.They breed in the desert and arid regions of North Africa from Morocco to the Middle East with further populations extending east as far as Mongolia and northern China. Some North African birds are resident but the majority spend the winter further south in the Sahara and Sahel regions, extending from Mauretania eastwards to Ethiopia and Somalia.

I have seen six Desert Wheatears of both sexes and all ages in Britain, the last almost ten years ago but all have been in autumn or exceptionally, one that was overwintering on a beach in northeast Scotland, so this bird's arrival in mid June, the latest ever Spring record in Britain was truly notable.There has in fact been only one other June record and that was way back on the 2nd of June 1906 when another male was found dead below the Pentland Skerries Lighthouse on Orkney

Maybe it was the hot and humid night that banished sleep from me at 4am or perhaps it was the familiar Blackbird's languid contralto song from my neighbour's cherry tree that came to me through the open bedroom window but whatever it was I set about the process of  joining body and soul into a cohesive whole.

As I lay on my bed wondering about the wheatear and thinking news about it would not be forthcoming for some time, half an hour later I was startled by a ping on my phone alerting me to a message from one of the birding WhatsApp Groups I am a member of, relaying news that at 4.34am this very morning a fellow early riser had found the wheatear was still present on its favourite fence by the playing fields..

There was definitely no chance now of further horizontal contemplation and in fifteeen minutes I was out of the door and driving westward into what promised to be a pleasant and warm day. At such an early hour the rural roads I took were deserted apart from the usual suicidal Wood Pigeons at the roadsides.Why do they wait so long before flying from oncoming cars, causing anxious moments as I become convinced I will collide with one.

My otherwise uneventful journey ended in what looked to be a landscaped development of recently built houses packed into a warren of small closes and cramped cul de sacs that offered very little scope to park. A large car park lay adjacent to the playing fields but I managed to find a parking place in one of the surrounding roads and saved myself a parking fee.

At 6.30am on a Sunday the place was predictably silent as doubtless all the residents were still enjoying a lie in. I soon found the footpath that sloped down from the housing to the extensive area of playing fields on one side of the path and grassland on the other and I could see several birders already standing by the fence line.

Joining them, the wheatear was pointed out to me perched on the metal frame of one of the goals at the edge of the playing fields.This was my first view of the bird but it soon moved to the wooden railing/fencc that ran behind the goals and secured the playing fields from the outside world.

The wheatear would utilise the frames of the goals or the wooden railings as elevated perches from which to sally forth  to seize prey from the grass of the playing field, often flying quite some distance to seize whatever it had seen.It rarely remained on the grass for more than a few seconds before seeking the comparative safety of the goal frames or wooden railing.

It showed a marked preference for one particular corner of the playing field conveniently near the path and I stationed myself there although it could move quite a long way along the fenceline but I knew to be patient as it always gravitated back to this particular corner.

Other birders followed it to wherever it moved but I have long adopted the principle that it is best to wait for the bird to come to you rather than the other way around and this is what I did with a more than acceptable outcome.

During my time with the wheatear there were never more than twenty or so people present and as usual it was nice to meet up with some familiar faces and pass some time with them

This individual was a first summer male told by its worn wing and tail feathers, more brown than black and which in an older bird would be fresher and blacker .Otherwise it was a pleasing combination of sandy buff upperparts, paler underparts and a black face, chin and wings.When it flew it exposed a conspicuously large area of white on its rump and an all black/brown tail.

For two hours I watched as the bird alternated between feeding and preening.Judging by its hyperactive feeding behaviour and frequent bouts of feather maintenance I sensed it was keen to depart and would probably leave in the following night.

Update

It was not seen the next day