Bird Sightings : Stonechat

thewesternisles.co.uk

Wildlife Forum NEW Hebrides bird sightings Bird pictures A - Z Bird pictures: thumbnails Bird ringing Seal and dolphin rescue Difference dolphin porpoise Seal pups Bottlenose dolphin A dolphin rescue BDMLR

Overview Flowering now A - Z wildflowers White wildflowers Yellow wildflowers Pink wildflowers Purple - blue flowers Orchid notes

Stornoway Arch Project August garden

Websites directory Featured sites: Hebridean Baskets Artist Wille Fulton Stornoway Arch Project

Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Stonechat

Stonechat (Male)

Saxicola ruberta

Gaelic: Gocan, Clacharan

Photograph John S Hamilton © Land of Nature Photography
Sheshader - Isle of Lewis - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
9th August, 2005

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 close-up photograph of a stonechat taken by Grahame Thompson, or a photograph of a stonechat in a typical setting by Andy L.

Other local bird photographs

back to page top

Home • Contact Webmaster • Advertising