Northern Wheatear
The Northern Wheatear or Wheatear is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher. It is the most widespread member of the Wheatear genus in Europe and Asia.
The English name has nothing to do with wheat or ears but is probably derived from the Middle English whit ers meaning "white arse" and referring to the prominent white rump of many Wheatear species
The Northern Wheatear is larger than the European Robin at 5.7 to 6.3 inches in length. Both sexes have a white rump and tail with a black inverted T-pattern at the end of the tail. The summer plumaged male has grey upperparts, buff throat and black wings and face mask. In autumn it resembles the female apart from the black wings. The female is pale brown above and buff below with darker brown wings.
The Northern Wheatear makes one of the longest migratory flights of any small bird, crossing ocean, ice and desert. It migrates from sub-Saharan Africa in spring to breed in open rocky country, tundra, moorland, heaths and pastures over a vast area of the Northern Hemisphere that includes northern and central Asia, Europe, Greenland, Alaska and parts of Canada. In autumn it returns to winter in central Africa.
In the UK, the Northern Wheatear is a summer visitor and passage migrant arriving in early March and leaving in September. It breeds mainly in western and northern Britain and western Ireland although smaller numbers also breed in southern and eastern England.
The Northern Wheatear is primarily an insectivorous bird and feeds mostly on beetles, ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, flies, etc. It also eats spiders, centipedes and snails and berries in the autumn.
Date: 7th May 2022
Location: World's End, Denbighshire
The English name has nothing to do with wheat or ears but is probably derived from the Middle English whit ers meaning "white arse" and referring to the prominent white rump of many Wheatear species
The Northern Wheatear is larger than the European Robin at 5.7 to 6.3 inches in length. Both sexes have a white rump and tail with a black inverted T-pattern at the end of the tail. The summer plumaged male has grey upperparts, buff throat and black wings and face mask. In autumn it resembles the female apart from the black wings. The female is pale brown above and buff below with darker brown wings.
The Northern Wheatear makes one of the longest migratory flights of any small bird, crossing ocean, ice and desert. It migrates from sub-Saharan Africa in spring to breed in open rocky country, tundra, moorland, heaths and pastures over a vast area of the Northern Hemisphere that includes northern and central Asia, Europe, Greenland, Alaska and parts of Canada. In autumn it returns to winter in central Africa.
In the UK, the Northern Wheatear is a summer visitor and passage migrant arriving in early March and leaving in September. It breeds mainly in western and northern Britain and western Ireland although smaller numbers also breed in southern and eastern England.
The Northern Wheatear is primarily an insectivorous bird and feeds mostly on beetles, ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, flies, etc. It also eats spiders, centipedes and snails and berries in the autumn.
Date: 7th May 2022
Location: World's End, Denbighshire
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