Stonechat
The (European) Stonechat is a small passerine bird that was long considered a member of the thrush family although genetic evidence has now placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family. Two weakly defined sub-species differing in colour intensity are currently accepted: hibernans found in north west Europe in Atlantic coastal areas, south west Norway, the UK, Ireland and north west France and rubicola found in the south and east of its range from Denmark south west to Spain and north Morocco, east to Poland and Ukraine and south east to Turkey.
The (European) Stonechat is slightly smaller than the Robin. Both sexes have distinctively short wings, shorter than those of the more migratory Whinchat and Siberian Stonechat. The summer male has black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast and a white belly and vent. It also has a white half-collar on the sides of its neck, a small white scapular patch on the wings and a very small white patch on the rump often streaked with black. The female has brown upperparts and head and no white neck patches, rump or belly. Instead these areas are streaked dark brown on paler brown, the only white being the scapular patch on the wings and even this often being buffy-white.
The (European) Stonechat can often be seen perched on the tops of low bushes where, as its name suggests, it can be heard uttering a sharp loud call that sounds like stones being knocked together. The male's song is high and twittering like a Dunnock.
The (European) Stonechat breeds in heathland, coastal dunes and rough grassland with scattered small shrubs and bramble, open gorse, tussocks or heather. It is a short-distance migrant or non-migratory, with part of the population, particularly from the north east of the range where winters are colder, moving to winter further south in Europe and north Africa.
Date: 2nd July 2023
Location: Hartland Moor NNR, Purbeck Heaths NNR, Dorset
The (European) Stonechat is slightly smaller than the Robin. Both sexes have distinctively short wings, shorter than those of the more migratory Whinchat and Siberian Stonechat. The summer male has black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast and a white belly and vent. It also has a white half-collar on the sides of its neck, a small white scapular patch on the wings and a very small white patch on the rump often streaked with black. The female has brown upperparts and head and no white neck patches, rump or belly. Instead these areas are streaked dark brown on paler brown, the only white being the scapular patch on the wings and even this often being buffy-white.
The (European) Stonechat can often be seen perched on the tops of low bushes where, as its name suggests, it can be heard uttering a sharp loud call that sounds like stones being knocked together. The male's song is high and twittering like a Dunnock.
The (European) Stonechat breeds in heathland, coastal dunes and rough grassland with scattered small shrubs and bramble, open gorse, tussocks or heather. It is a short-distance migrant or non-migratory, with part of the population, particularly from the north east of the range where winters are colder, moving to winter further south in Europe and north Africa.
Date: 2nd July 2023
Location: Hartland Moor NNR, Purbeck Heaths NNR, Dorset
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