Bird Sightings: Stonechat

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Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Stonechat

Stonechat

Saxicola ruberta

Gaelic: Gocan, Clacharan

Photograph © Grahame Thompson
Upper Aird - Isle of Lewis - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
May 2005

Grahame is one of two British Ornithological Society ringers on the island, he does the East side. His usual areas are the Castle Grounds and Aiginish, plus a whole heap of other sites depending on time of year and species!

Stonechat

Breeds Locally, Resident, Migrant Breeder,

Stonechats live for about 6 years.

The stonechat is about the same size of a robin, 11.5 to 13cm.

A plump little bird, an insect-eater so has a pointed beak, stonechats also like seeds and fruits (berries).

Stonechats have an orange tinge to their breasts.

Male and female stonechats are different, the male is a dandy in springtime, with an orange-buff breast strong in tint, set off by a black head and throat, with dark brown upperparts, and a contrasting white patch on the cheek-neck area.(It all looks a little faded come autumn)

Female stonechats have a similar pattern, but they are brown instead of black, more heavily streaked, and the orange tinge to the breast is less vibrant.

Stonechats show white in the rump area when flying, as do wheatears and meadow-pipits and they are often found in the same areas.

They particulary like to nest in the protection of gorse and heather scrub, generally on the ground beneath the bushes. An estimated 9,000 to 23,000 pairs of stonechats breed in the UK. The stonechat is in decline in Europe and is on the amber conservation list.

Often seen in springtime, male and female together, accompanying you on a walk for quite a way along a lane, in moorland or grassland (until you are well out of their territory), repeatedly flying just a little ahead then perching, and giving the alarm call "trak- trak". Stonechats perch in raised areas, tops of bushes, fence wires, etc.

Parents and young travel feeding together as a family.

See a photograph of a stonechat in a typical setting taken by Andy L, or a photgraph of a male stonechat by John Hamilton.

Other local bird photographs

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