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Bird ID please

ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
in Wildlife gardening
Can anyone tell me what this little fella is please?  Photographed in marshland along the coast near La Faute-sur-Mer, south Vendée?   

Not by me but someone in a local group at a place where we go walkies.    I want to know more about it but can't look it up without a name.    Thanks in advance.


Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Plato

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2023
    That’s a male Stonechat. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Desi_in_LondonDesi_in_London Posts: 731
    african stonechat? ( just did an image search ) on web
    Kindness is always the right choice.
  • LunarSeaLunarSea Posts: 1,923
    Yep, male Stonechat (European race). Lovely shot!
    Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. 

    I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited April 2023
    Thanks all.  I had no idea but now I can look for its song and habitat.

    There are Bluethroats about too in that same area but I've never seen one.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    Agree, Eurasian Stonechat, male.
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Lovely little birds @Obelixx - nice to get a good pic   :)  
    We get them further north. See them quite often on lower slopes of hills - Cairngorms etc.
    I took a pic of one at the foot of the hill in my signature strip.  

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    That's lovely @Fairygirl.  I've seen one or two flitting about when we've been down near the coast and well away from people but never here in the country lanes or garden but now I know not to expect them here.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They really are lovely little birds @Obelixx. I got lots of photos of one in Glen Feshie, after coming down off Mullach clach a Bhlair in the Cairngorms. Ideal habitat for them there too. 
    It made the long schlepp through the glen, back to the car, very worthwhile  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LunarSeaLunarSea Posts: 1,923
    Unlike their close cousin the Whinchat which migrates south at the end of the season, our Stonechats have become largely resident, merely becoming more coastal during the winter. Unfortunately they suffered badly during the really harsh winters of 2009 & 2010. But they certainly seem to be back to full strength now.
    Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. 

    I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
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