Birds

It’s spring and with rare migrant birds arriving everyday in Cornwall everything with feathers is eyed with suspicion.

This common Wheatear seen at Windmill Farm Nature Reserve on The Lizard certainly caught our attention. A bird that would normally be seen on the ground feeding on insects, this one looked completely out of place in a tree.

Insight into Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe): A common spring migrant to the UK, most breeding taking place in the western and northern areas.

It winters in Africa and first arrivals in the UK can be as early as March with most birds having migrated south again by the end of October.

In flight it shows a white rump with a black ‘T’ in the tail with the adult males having a more striking bluey grey back than the females.