A first for the year!

Goldcliff on Wednesday evening felt like a proper spring evening, and with my first Little Ringed Plovers of the year and a Sand Martin flying over, it certainly felt like. The Glossy Ibis came in to roost at 5.45pm adding a Continental feel to the evening. I even managed a shot at the above hovering Kestrel as the light was fading. What I particularly liked about the visit was seeing my first Wheatear of the spring - perched up on some boulders close to the seawall, and what a cracking male it was too, in fresh spring plumage and looking like it had just stepped out of the pages of a book.  What inspires me about these birds is that several days before it would have been feeding around the feet of Zebras on the African continent.

It is a wary bird which ‘bobs’ it’s while body if disturbed, and if it feels threatened it dashes away low showing off the striking tail pattern. The call is a ‘chak ckak’ but the alarm call is a ‘weet chak chak’. They are 14.5 – 15.5cm in length with a wingspan of 26-32cm and weigh 22-28g. Sand dunes, coasts, cliff tops, moors, mountains and open landscapes all form their habitats. Food consists mainly of insects with Spiders, Snails and Earthworm being particularly favoured.

The adult male is a striking bird, with diagnostic grey crown and back, a bold white supercilium (eye stripe), a thick black mask that runs right through the eye (which widens over the cheeks) and black wings. From the chin down to the breast is a soft pink-buff with the remaining underparts white. The rump, under tail coverts and the tail itself are also white. The tip of the tail however, is marked by a narrow, black upside down ‘t’.  Females are similarly patterned to the male, however the wings, crown, cheek patch and the back are all toned a nice brown colour and the underparts are usually buffer in appearance.  Juveniles (which won’t be seen until autumn migration) have dark underparts with a scaly appearance.

Identification of Northern Wheatears is best done by noting the distinctive tail pattern and length, and the face pattern and the colour tones of the body. Whether it is the male (pictured) or the female, they are eye catching birds and entertaining to watch.  The old Saxon name for Wheatears was 'wheatass' pronounced 'whiteass' in relation to the white rump as they fly away. Now thankfully we refer to them simply as the Wheatear.

Pictures copyright of N Davies.