Redstart
Phoenicurus phoenicurus
Length 14cm

Male is particularly attractive bird with black and grey on head and back, and red breast. Female has grey-brown upperparts and orange wash to pale underparts; both sexes have striking red tail, continually pumped up and down. A summer visitor to Great Britain, common only in W and N and absent from Ireland; present from April to September. Favours open woodland and wooded heaths, and nests in tree holes. Has ticking alarm call and tuneful, melancholy song.