Black redstart

The black redstart is a small robin-sized bird that has adapted to live at the heart of industrial and urban centres. Its name comes from the plumage of the male, which is grey-black in colour with a red tail.

With fewer than 100 breeding pairs in the UK, the black redstart is on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. Is is also listed as a Schedule 1 species on The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Breeding birds occur mainly in urban areas of Greater London, Birmingham and the Black Country with a few pairs in Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Ipswich, and the odd pair at cliff sites and power stations along the south coast between Suffolk and Dorset.

There is a good spring passage of black redstarts through the UK and Ireland and they can turn up anywhere, but particularly at the coast. On return passage in autumn, they can be relatively numerous in places like the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall. In winter, a small number are found from Lancashire and Lincolnshire southwards, and along the south coast.