Redstart

Phoenicurus phoenicurus

With its broad, charcoal-black mask, silvery head, slaty back and brick-red belly, the male Common Redstart is among the finest sights of spring in Britain.

Redstarts are summer visitors to our shores, particularly to the woodlands of Wales and northern Britain, with some also to be found on heaths and forests in the south and east of England.

Despite their splendid looks, Redstarts can be hard to spot among the trees. Familiarity with their song is invaluable. 

Growing up in south-east England, away from the heathlands that are their stronghold here, I met with very few Redstarts and always found the song tricky to grasp. 

The best advice I was given was to listen for a chaffinch that goes wrong. 

Redstarts usually begin their phrases with a little whistle, like a sharp indrawn breath, and then a chip-chip-chip that sounds like a Chaffinch - one that’s about to bounce its ball down those wide steps. 

But with the Redstart those loud chips pivot into a little warble or a series of squeaks, different every time.

In this recording, listen out for a bit of Chiffchaff in the third phrase. And is that Nuthatch at the end of the first phrase? Coal Tit in the fourth?

The second part of each phrase can be highly variable, and often features snippets from other birds’ songs. You might regard Redstarts as the archivists of the woods, collecting audio from their neighbours. In one recent study, a single bird was found to mimic over fifty other species in a single hour.

Redstarts like to sing from on or near the crown of a tree, such as a birch or oak. This can make them tricky to pick out among the leaves.

Stick with it and you may be rewarded by seeing the bird drop down to feed, robin-like, at ground level. Whether female or male, adult or youngster, the bird will show a rusty-coloured tail - the ‘start’ referred to in ‘redstart’.

The tail often quivers, as if suspended on an invisible wire, while the rest of the bird remains quite still.

Ground level is also a good place to find Redstarts during migration, especially in the autumn as they return to Africa during August and September.

At these times Redstarts might turn up almost anywhere, and they can be relatively showy - along a hedge or at the edge of isolated hawthorn, darting down to the grass to grab an insect and back up to perch.

Although they can be quiet at this time, their contact call provides another helpful clue to their presence.

To my ear this sounds very like a Chiffchaff’s quizzical little contact call - just a little stronger. I wonder how many Redstarts I have walked past in my life, assuming their were Chiffchaffs?

These days I take a moment longer to check. Wherever you are, an encounter with a Redstart is welcome.

📖 Fifty species in an hour: the remarkable mimicry of Common Redstart (Birdguides)

Common Redstart image by sharkolot from Pixabay