Rare passage migrant, which may have attempted to breed.

The earliest record is of one shot near Stevenage on 13 May 1887.

Other records of passage birds are: one seen in heavy rain in a Newgate garden on 15 September 1969; one at Top Pond, Astonbury on 19 September 1969; male in full breeding plumage at Astonbury on 29 April 1970; one at Watery Grove on 30 April 1971; one at Astonbury on 11 August 1975; a female at Astonbury Wood on  9 May 1979; a male at Watery Grove on 25 April 1980; a male at an unrecorded location on 30 April 1985; a female at an unrecorded location on 4 May 1985; one at an unrecorded location on 10 July 1987; a female in a Fishers Green garden on 12 August 1994; a male at Monks Wood on 24 April 1997; a first winter bird in a Martins Wood Garden on 4 September 2008; a male at Warren Springs Laboratory on 19 April 2013; one at Derby Way on 29 August 2015; two first year birds at Fairlands Farmhouse on 24 August 2022; two at Potters Spring on 9 and 10 September 2022.

Potential breeding records are: a female seen at Astonbury Wood on 10 June 1978; and a bird visiting a nest box in Granby Road for 10 days up to 4 June 1990.