Black Wheatear
Oenanthe leucura (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Photo © Bryan Thomas
STATUS
Southwest Europe and north Africa. Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
BOU (1971) admitted all four records (Shetland 1912, 1953; Cheshire 1943; Kent 1954) and they were still admitted by the BOURC (1992) in their 6th edition of Checklist of Birds of Britain and Ireland. However, all four records were rejected a year later (BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 496). The other two were Hastings Rarities.
NOT PROVEN
0). 1909 Sussex Near Rye Harbour, pair, seen, 31st August to 2nd September when the male was shot, female, shot, 16th September.
(N. F. Ticehurst, British Birds 3: 289-292; E. N. Bloomfield, Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist 1: 304; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History N. F. Ticehurst (1910) in British Birds, Vol. III. pp. 289-292, says: 'The presence of a pair of birds near Rye Harbour that were described as "Black Wheatears" was first reported to me on August 31st, 1909. On September 6th Mr. Bristow informed me that he had been to the locality on the 2nd and seen two birds which answered to this description on the open grassland near the chemical works, between the town of Rye and the Harbour, a tract of land much frequented by migrating Wheatears, Wagtails, Mistle Thrushes and other birds. He chased them unsuccessfully for some time, and they eventually flew over the river. On the same day the male was shot by one of the gunning fraternity at Rye Harbour, who are always on the look-out for strange birds, and was received by Mr. Bristow on the 3rd. It was seen in the flesh by Mr. L. A. Curtis Edwards, and examined by me two days later, after it had been stuffed. This bird is now in the collection of Mr. J. B. Nichols, who has kindly lent it for the purpose of producing the accompanying figure. On the afternoon of September 9th I paid a short visit to the neighbourhood, but failed to meet with the remaining bird, which, however, evaded the attentions of the gunners until the 16th, when it was shot.
On examination I found that it was a female, and owing to its having been badly injured by large shot was not in such good condition as the male. The rusty-black colour of its plumage was also in strong contrast to the jet-black coloration of the first bird. Of the several species of chats that have a considerable amount of black in their plumage, the present species, from its geographical range, is the one that is most likely (or least unlikely) to wander to Britain. On August 11th, 1880, a bird, which Gätke considered without doubt to have been an adult male Black Chat, was seen on Heligoland, but was not obtained.
The range of the Black Wheatear or Chat is, roughly, southern Europe and northern Africa. Throughout the Iberian peninsula, except in the extreme north, and at Gibraltar, it is common; in southern France and Italy, although rarer, it also occurs, but principally, if not entirely, as a migrant. A few breed in Sardinia and possibly also in Sicily, but there is no evidence of its occurrence in Corsica or Greece. In northern Africa it is the most generally distributed chat in Tunisia, being especially abundant in the central portion; it is also common on the southern slopes of the Atlas in Algeria, numerous in Morocco, and not uncommon in some districts of Tripoli. Further east than this it does not occur. Over a great part of its breeding-area this species is a resident, though probably a number of those which breed in southern Europe cross over to north Africa for the winter.'
E. N. Bloomfield (1911) in the Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist, Vol. I. p. 304, says: 'Dr. N. F. Ticehurst has sent me a long and very interesting list of rare birds which have occurred in our own and neighbouring districts, to which I have added a few others lately presented to the Museum by Mr. W. H. Mullens. In Sussex - Saxicola leucura, Gmel., Black Chat, adult pair, Rye Harbour, September 2nd and 16th, 1909, first British specimens.'
Locally, Walpole-Bond (1938 (2): 93) adds: 'From Mr. J. B. Nichols' possession, it passed to the Dyke Road Museum, Brighton.'
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
0). 1912 Shetland Fair Isle, adult male, seen, 28th to 30th September.
(M. Bedford & W. E. Clarke, Scottish Naturalist 33: 5-8, 27-28; Eds., British Birds 6: 351; W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 34: 270; Bedford, 1937; BOU, 1971; BOURC, 1992).
[BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 496; D. Shaw, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Report 2003: 115].
History Mary, Duchess of Bedford & Wm. Eagle Clarke (1913) in the Scottish Naturalist, Vol. XXXIII. pp. 5-6, 27-28, say: 'The following notes are based upon the daily records of our bird-watcher, Mr. Wilson; on personal observations made during the latter half of September and in October; and on contributions by Mr. George Stout, who spent an autumn holiday on his native island....During the year 1912 two species were added to the avifauna, namely, the Black Chat (Saxicola leucura) and the Curlew Sandpiper (Tringa subarquata). The former is new to the Scottish avifauna, and the second known occurrence of this South-western European bird in the British Isles.'
Further, pp. 28-29, they add: 'An adult male of this South-western European species was present on the island from 28th to 30th September. It was several times distinctly seen, but always kept just beyond gun-range. In addition to being extremely wary, it frequented ground where cover was entirely absent. This is the second known instance of the bird's occurrence in the British Isles; the first, a pair, having been obtained in Sussex in the autumn of 1909.'
In an Editorial (1913) in British Birds, Vol. VI. p. 351, they say: 'In recent numbers of the Scottish Naturalist interesting articles have appeared on migrants observed in 1912 by The Duchess of Bedford and Mr. Eagle Clarke, in Fair Isle, and by the Misses Rintoul and Baxter in the Isle of May. The rarer occurrences recorded are mentioned below...At Fair Isle a male of this species was present from September 28th to 30th. It was several times clearly seen but was not obtained, and the race to which it belonged not ascertained. The only other recorded instances of the occurrence of this species in the British Isles are the two in Sussex in 1909 (cf. Vol. III. p. 289).'
W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Editor (1914) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XXXIV. p. 270, on the unexpected occurrences for 1913, says: 'Male seen, Fair Isle (Shetland), September 28th to 30th.'
Mary, Duchess of Bedford (1937: 37-38), says: 'September 22nd, 1912. Arrived Fair Isle at noon....September 28th, 1912. Wind south-east. A number of migrants in....In the afternoon we saw a Black Wheatear. September 29th, 1912. I tried to find the Black Wheatear, but had no luck. September 30th, 1912. Wind east-south-east. The Black Wheatear was seen again today, but not, alas! by me.'
D. Shaw (2003) in the Fair Isle Bird Observatory Report, p. 115, stated that this record is no longer acceptable.
0). 1915 Sussex Pevensey Sluice, male, shot, 7th June.
(T. Parkin, British Birds 9: 200-201; W. Ruskin Butterfield, Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist 2: 199; BOU (1918), Ibis 60: 238-239; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History Thomas Parkin (1916) in British Birds, Vol. IX. pp. 200-201, says: 'A male Black Wheatear was brought to me in the flesh for examination by Mr. G. Bristow. The bird had been shot on June 7th, 1915, at Pevensey Sluice, Sussex. Mr. Witherby, who has examined it, informs me that it is an example of the North African form (Oenanthe leucura syenitica).'
[This bird, which Mr. J. B. Nichols has kindly lent me for examination, is a very typical example of the North African race of Black Wheatear (Oenanthe leucura syenitica (Heuglin)). On comparison with the male of the two first British specimens, which were typical European birds (O. l. leucura), the differences are very marked. The North African bird is very decidedly more brownish-black, and the difference in the tips of the tail-feathers of the two birds is clearly shown in the accompanying reproduction of a photograph. It will be noted that in the European bird the black tips of the tail-feathers are narrower (and in this specimen are divided with white, though this is not always so), while in the North African form they are broader and unbroken. In the females of the two forms the difference in coloration is better marked than in the males. - H.F.W.]
Admitted nationally in the First List Report as the first for Britain of the North African form (BOURC (1918) Ibis 60: 238-239).
Walpole-Bond (1938 (2): 94) says: 'On Mr. J. B. Nichols death it passed into the Booth Museum, Brighton.'
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
0). 1943 Cheshire & Wirral Altrincham Sewage-farm, seen, 1st August.
(A. W. Boyd, British Birds 37: 135-136; BOU, 1971; BOURC, 1992).
[BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 496].
History A. W. Boyd (1943) in British Birds, Vol. XXXVII. pp. 135-136, says: 'Mr. W. Cullen sent me sketches, drawn on the spot before he had access to any book, of a wheatear at rest and in flight, which he observed at very close quarters in a cabbage field within half a mile of the Altrincham Sewage Farm, Cheshire, on August 1st, 1943. He described the bird in detail: entire plumage of a dull brownish-black except for a uniformly white rump and white tail which had a black fringe at the end and black centre feathers forming an inverted "T" (this was clearly shown in the sketch), head appeared to be fiat-topped, neck shortish, bill very dark, fairly long and pointed, legs black; it was particularly noted that breast and belly were of the same colour as head and back, and that the under tail-coverts were very light - almost white; length about that of a Greenfinch or Yellowhammer, but a much more stockily built bird. Mr. Cullen approached within five yards of the bird and it then flew to a cartshaft 20 yards distant, where it bobbed and curtsied in wheatear fashion. From this evidence it seems clear that it must have been one of the forms of the Black Wheatear (Oenanthe leucura), as Mr. Cullen suggested. Mr. B. W. Tucker, to whom I sent the original sketches and Mr. Cullen's letters, agrees that the evidence leaves no doubt that it was a bird of this species.'
0). 1953 Shetland Near Setter, Fair Isle, 19th October.
(K. Williamson, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Bulletin 2: 72-73; BOU, 1971; BOURC, 1992).
[BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 496; D. Shaw, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Report 2003: 115].
History K. Williamson (1953) in the Fair Isle Bird Observatory Bulletin, Vol. II. pp. 72-73, says: 'October 19th. James Stout of Midway and George Stout of Field both saw and reported independently to me a bird which can only have been a Black Wheatear Oenanthe leucura, probably a female. George told me about it when I met him on my early trapping round; James saw it when returning from an abortive Woodcock hunt on the hill, and he phoned north about it when he reached the Post Office. When I met him later at Vaadal he told me the bird's general coloration was a dark earth-brown (pointing to an exposed peat-bank), except that the belly and flanks appeared quite black. The white tail and its coverts were very striking in contrast. He left his gun by the road-side and went to the Setter croft to borrow their telescope, but unfortunately the bird disappeared across Field on his return.
George saw only the upper side of the bird as it flitted along in the lee of the Setter dyke; he also spoke of the marked contrast between the white tail and sooty back and wings. I looked all over the place for the bird in the late morning and afternoon and was left with the impression (not for the first time!) that this is a very big island! Everyone knew about the wheatear by mid-morning and it was the day's topic of conservation. But nobody saw it again.'
D. Shaw (2003) in the Fair Isle Bird Observatory Report, p. 115, stated that this record is no longer acceptable.
0). 1954 Kent Between Dungeness Point and Littlestone, 17th October.
(M. L. R. Romer, British Birds 48: 132; E. H. Gillham, Kent Bird Report 1954: 28; BOU, 1971; Taylor, Davenport & Flegg, 1981; BOURC, 1992).
[BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 496].
History M. L. R. Romer (1955) in British Birds, Vol. XLVIII. p. 132, says: 'On 17th October 1954 between Dungeness Point and Littlestone, Kent, I saw a wheatear fly up from the shingle and alight on a garden wall some ten yards from the road. It was at once apparent that the bird was of a uniform dull sooty brown, except for the rump and the upper tail-coverts which were white, and the tail pattern which was that typical of wheatears, with white outer feathers and black terminal band and central feathers. I had the bird under observation for about three minutes at ranges of 8-20 yards, and when it was close to me it was possible to see that, while the mantle was sooty brown, the rest of the dark parts were chocolate-brown or mahogany. It appeared to be of the same size, shape and habits as a Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe). There was no vestige of an eye-stripe, and the legs and bill were blackish. Unfortunately, I did not notice the colour of the under tail-coverts, but after examining skins at the British Museum (Natural History) I was quite satisfied that the bird was a female (or possibly immature) Black Wheatear (O. leucura). Several of the skins I examined were almost identical with the bird I saw, particularly with regard to the rather rich or rufous mahogany of the under-parts, and the sooty brown appearance above.'
E. H. Gillham (1954) in the Kent Bird Report, Vol. III. p. 28, says: 'One at Greatstone on Oct. I7 (M.L.R.R.). Full details in B. B., 48: 32. A bird of this species, reported from Sandwich in 1952, was not accepted for publication owing to presence of an eye stripe which indicated the possibility of the bird being a melanistic Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe).'
