A small, dumpy chat, the stonechat is a little smaller than a robin. It has a big head and short tail. It can frequently be seen sitting on the top of gorse bushes, flicking its wings and making a call like two small stones being hit together. Stonechats inhabit heaths, bogs and conifer plantations. They eat invertebrates, seeds and fruit, such as blackberries.
How to identify
Male stonechats have a black head, brown back, black throat with a white half-collar, and orange-red breast. Females and juveniles are paler. Darker than the similar whinchat, the stonechat does not have a pale eyestripe or pale patches at the base of the tail.
Did you know?
On heathland in the south of England, Dartford warblers can often be seen following stonechats around, perhaps catching the small insects that the larger bird disturbs.
