Hull urban birds. 36. Stonechat

Stonechats are small perching birds, the size of a robin, with rusty-red chest and brown and black tones. Males have a black head with white patches on the side of the neck. During winter, the black feathers of head and back are fringed with brown,giving them a dark chocolate tone. Females are browner. They have relatively long black legs and black bills, and short tails. When they are around, they are obvious birds, with a habit of perching on prominent posts: fences, or tall flower heads, from which they watch the ground in search of invertebrates. They will dive down, and soon return to their perch. I have described how pairs of male and females, not breeding pairs, defend winter territories. In Yorkshire, Stonechats breed in upland heaths and coastal grasslands, and move to lowland areas, to the coast or along the Humber and river valleys during the winter. Their name stems from their call, which sounds like two pebbles knocking together.

A female at Noddle Hill, 18 September 2019.

Status and distribution in Hull

A scarce wintering bird found in singles or pairs in rough grassland on the outskirts of Hull and by the Humber. Willerby Carr, the banks of the River Hull by Kingswood (top shot, 11 November 2024) and the north side of Noddle Hill and the Docks are good areas to look for them, especially in patches of scrubby long grasses, from the end of September until March. Broughton's Birds of the Hull area indicates very sporadic wintering individuals before 2002, with multiyear gaps, whilst recently the species appears to have become a regular, if still scarce and very local, wintering one in the Hull area.

A male at Haltemprice Priory grounds, 3 February 2025.

Conservation

Stonechats were moved to the Green list in 2009, as they recovered from previous population losses. They appear to be benefiting from a warming climate, with an increase in range in the north and movement to higher altitudes for breeding. They are susceptible to cold winters, given their invertebrate diet, and the cold winter of 2009-2010 resulted in a strong dip in populations, but they have since strongly recovered. Given the local and scarce numbers in the Hull area, and their association to regularly managed river banks, an archaeological site and a Local Nature reserve no particular conservation management aspects are needed for the species.

More information

Broughton, Richard K. Birds of the Hull Area.

Yorkshire Bird Report 2018/19. YNU.