An urban chat that’s a treat to breed

Thanks to Gary Bralsford for his help with this article

IN HIS second-year breeding plumage, the male of the black redstart looks as if he has crawled up a chimney. Black throat and chest; head belly and back slate grey; a white wing mirror; and a beautiful reddish-brown tail and rump. His song – a simple little grinding ditty – is to be heard in many European cities, usually sung from the eaves of a building.

Traditionally an inhabitant of mountainous regions, the species is now fully adapted to humans and inhabits towns and villages. There it is now more numerous than in its original habitat, the mountains.

Black redstarts prefer factory sites,