Bird hoping to make comeback
I GET really excited when I see something I have never seen before particularly when it involves wildlife.
I was on the moors last year when I saw a small bird with a black head and red belly, but this was no robin.
I went home to consult my Observer’s Book of Birds, yes I still have one. I also had Birds’ Eggs but I never became an expert. I also remember an Observer’s Book of Football but I’m not sure if that is my imagination and I certainly have no idea where it went.
I had an idea what my bird was and it was indeed a stonechat, a most delightful feathered creature that can be found on moors and also on the coast. Every year there is much excitement when stonechats nest and breed in the dune nature reserves at St Anne’s. Those dunes are just great places to encounter unexpected wildlife when you are on the way to the beach.
All very good, but the stonechat’s story is a really sad one here in the North West. Up to 2009, this bird had grown in numbers since the beginning of the century. More and more stonechats were being seen on our moorlands and they were stretching out towards the coast.
Then the severe winter freezes and heavy snowfalls of the next two years devastated the numbers of this vulnerable bird. In fact, over the past few decades the stonechat has been badly affected by hard winters. At its peak before 2010, more than 275 pairs of stonechats were recorded in the Lancashire Bird Atlas, but they feared this number was halved by the two big freezes. Yet many are still around. Dumpy birds that are smaller than robins, they have a big head and a short tail. They are dark above with a black throat, white half-collar and orangey red breast.
They can be seen sitting on the top of gorse bushes, flicking their wings and making a sound like two stones being banged together. I would think this is quite unnerving if you were on the moors on a quiet day on your own. Is that a stonechat or someone walking towards you bashing two stones together? This is probably why I haven’t seen many stonechats, as I am running the other way.
Stonechats live in heaths, bogs and coniferous plantations. They eat insects, seeds and fruit – they really like blackberries. So hopefully the milder, wet winter we have experienced will have helped our resident stonechats and, if you are wandering on the moors or along our coast, you may just encounter one of these beautiful birds.
They are part of the incredible biodiversity we have in the North West, something we really need to celebrate.
●●THE Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is dedicated to the protection and promotion of the wildlife in Lancashire, seven boroughs of Greater Manchester and four of Merseyside, all lying north of the River Mersey. To become a member go to the website at www. lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129. For information about Cheshire Wildlife Trust call 01948 820728 or go to cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk.