25th February - Lindford, Hampshire - Black-throated Thrush.

On Sunday the 23rd a photograph of a Black-throated Thrush was posted on the Hampshire birding Facebook Page.  It was identified correctly, but was in the finders garden and he wasn't prepared to have lots of birders coming through the garden to view.  This was a first for Hampshire and it was expected many local birders and someother would want to come to see it.

There then followed some detective work and it became clear that there may be a way to observe and on Monday some negotiations took place with a neighbour allowing access to the bottom of her garden.  I was able to go on the Tuesday and I walked from parking the car in an industrial estate and crossed the river Wey.  I missed the gate to start but went through and followed the muddy track alongside the river to find a group of birders present.

The bird was feeding in the garden and would come and go, the problem this morning was the presence of a cat and it seemed to have spooked the thrush.  It wasn't around when I arrived.

Time past and eventually it was found in the top of a tree, after awhile it came down to the garden and perched in a Laurel bush.

It dropped down into the garden and then fed around the base of the feeders.  The views though were still quite distant.

This is a large and distinctive thrush, a little larger than a Song Thrush. The male has black from the chin to the breast with a greyish black tail. The upperparts are grey and the underparts are whitish with orange-red underwing coverts. Unfortunately I was never able to see the under wing.  Females and immatures are similar but the black on the throat and breast is replaced with dusky streaking.

The breeding range of the black-throated thrush extends from the extreme east of Europe to Western Siberia and north-west Mongolia. The wintering range extends from the Middle East, although uncommon in the Arabian Peninsula to eastern Myanmar. As a vagrant, it has occurred in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. It may also be occasionally found in most of Europe west of its normal range.

Black-throated thrushes breed along the edges of clearings in coniferous or mixed deciduous forest, often in the undergrowth of Siberian Pine Pinus sibirica or mixed spruce fir forest, especially along watercourses or in swampy areas.

It would move up the garden and out of sight for some time, coming back to the border, spending time foraging as you would expect from a thrush.

I spent two hours watching on and off and it was wonderful to at last catch up with one, not only was this a new Hampshire bird for me, but a lifer, my second of the year and a welcome bird after coming back from holiday.  Last year I missed the Red-breasted Goose, so this was good to see.

As well as the thrush there were Great Spotted Woodpecker, Siskins and Redpolls feeding on the feeders and around the base Stock Dove and Jackdaws, while in the bushes along the river a single Goldcrest.