Stonechat vs Whinchat: How to Tell Them Apart

Comparable size to the Whinchat, but the Stonechat is stouter, its head is fuller, and the wings shorter. Sexes differ. Males in spring have a dark, sooty-black head, a white section on the neck's side, white wing patches and rump, a dark brownish back and an orangish breast. Colours are duller in autumn, and the head in particular is more pale. Dark legs and bill. Females are streakier and browner on top, the white neck patches are buff, and the head is brownish rather than black. Juveniles are similar to females but they're duller, with spotting and barring.

Prefers to breed on heaths, coastal areas including dunes, and in gorse vegetation. May also be found in areas near humans, such as golfing greens and railway ditches.

The 'huuit, tchac, tchac' is compared to a couple of small stones clashing together. Has a fast-paced, trilling song.

The Whinchat is more slender than the Stonechat; the bill is thicker, the head not as rounded, and the wings are longer. In all plumages, the tail is white on each side of the base and there are black spots higher up. The sexes are different. Males are streaked and brown on top, they have a distinct white stripe above the eye and a more subtle one beneath the dark cheeks, the throat and breast are orange, and it is otherwise whitish below. The legs and bill are dark. Females appear like a duller version of the male; the eye stripe, throat and breast are buffish. Juveniles are similar to females, but the breast has some spotting and the markings are less clear.

Breeding grounds include marginal bracken near moorlands, forests with grassy clearings, and in areas with a variety of short grasslands and appropriate perches.

Has a piercing 'tick-tick' call when disturbed, and a fast twittering song.