Northern Wheatear

Above: Adult.
Below: Juvenile.

A summer visitor to the UK arriving as early as March and lingering as late as October. They prefer open areas with grassy places on which to feed, but with plenty of rocks or rubble nearby for nesting. On migration they can turn up almost anywhere but often on farmland, the coast and the edge of lakes and reservoirs.

The adult male is quite an attractive bird having a pale slate grey back and crown, black wings and tail tip, a white tail base, a warm buff breast fading to a pale almost white belly, jet black legs and beak, a black patch through the eye with a strip of bright white separating the black eye patch from the pale slate grey crown. The adult female is similar to the adult male but the colours are more muted and she therefore appears to be a little more drab. The juveniles are quite distinctively different. They are more brown/buff than grey. The rich buff brown spreads to cover the entire breast, belly and vent. The white over the black eye patch of the adult is missing or shows only as a slightly paler patch of buff. The two photos to the left show an adult and a juvenile bird. The differences are quite easy to see.

I've found northern wheatears in a number of locations, some offering good photo opportunities. They can be quite annoying to approach as they have a habit of waiting until you are almost close enough for a picture before flying off and landing a further 100 yards away and then repeating the process as you try to approach again. Very slow movement is the answer. You can find then all year at a number of coastal sites around the north west. Some of the ones I know for sure are Pwllheli beach at the far Llanbedrog end, various places around the Wirral coast, Leasowe Gun Site being one, The Great Orme, Llandudno and no doubt many other places. On passage there are other places, particularly Frodsham Marsh in April. Of all of these places that I know, I've found Frodsham Marsh in April and Pwllheli beach to be the best places for photography. Possibly because these are less disturbed than other sites such as Leasowe Gun Site.

At Pwllheli, they nest in the rocks piled up for sea defences and feed in the fields behind the beach. There is a place where a fence and gate come right to the edge of the rocks to keep livestock in the field beyond. Here there is a hole in the rock pile that you can sit in with just your head showing. It makes a great hide and the birds can be watched just a few feet away at times. They are usually found to the west of this point so morning is the best time to go to try to photograph them, especially if the sun is shining.

At Frodsham the path down to the ship canal from Marsh lane, takes you through some farmland with fields of grazing sheep and cattle. In April, wheatears can often be found feeding in these fields and frequently perch on the fence posts along the path. I've found that with a careful, slow approach it is possible to get surprisingly close to these birds. Close enough for a half decent photograph at least.