The Common Redstart........which is not so common!

Very rare visitors to my garden last summer, were the wonderful Common Redstart and even rarer Black Redstart.

Whilst not threatened with extinction, these beautiful birds are now on the 'Amber' list, with numbers having fallen by 55% in the past 25 years!

I was fortunate to capture the following images, with my Nikon D500 and Nikon 200-500mm telephoto lens.

Female Redstart

The common redstart shows some affinity to the European Robin in many of its habits and actions. It has the same general carriage, and chat-like behaviour, and is the same length at 13–14.5 cm long but slightly slimmer and not quite as heavy, weighing 11–23 g. The orange-red tail, from which it and other redstarts get their names ("start" is an old word for "tail"), is frequently quivered. 

Black Redstarts

Among common European birds, only the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochrurus) has a similarly coloured tail.

Male Redstart

The male in summer has a slate-grey head and upperparts, except the rump and tail, which, like the flanks, underwing coverts and axillaries are orange-chestnut. The forehead is white; the sides of the face and throat are black. The wings and the two central tail feathers are brown, the other tail feathers bright orange-red. The orange on the flanks shades to almost white on the belly. The bill and legs are black. In autumn, pale feather fringes on the body feathering obscures the colours of the male, giving it a washed-out appearance. The female is browner, with paler underparts; it lacks the black and slate, and the throat is whitish.

Juvenile Redstart with lunch.

Common redstarts prefer open mature birch and oak woodland with a high horizontal visibility and low amounts of shrub and undergrowth, especially where the trees are old enough to have holes suitable for its nest. They prefer to nest on the edge of woodland clearings, including parks and old gardens in urban areas. They nest in natural tree holes, so dead trees or those with dead limbs are beneficial to the species; nestboxes are sometimes used. A high cover of moss and lichen is also preferred. They also use mature open conifer woodland, particularly in the north of the breeding range.

It is a summer visitor throughout most of Europe, whilst it winters in central Africa, south of the Sahara Desert but north of the Equator. It is widespread as a breeding bird in England, particularly in upland broadleaf woodlands and hedgerow trees.

The males first arrive in early to mid April, often a few days in advance of the females. Five or six light blue eggs are laid during May, with a second brood in mid summer in the south of the breeding range. It departs for Africa between mid-August and early October. It often feeds like a flycatcher, making aerial attacks after passing insects, and most of its food consists of winged insects.

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