Christine's walking & birds blog

The stonechat landed on the gorse bush as I pulled into the lay-by above Loch Glascarnoch, with some sort of insect larva in his bill.


He seems to be whacking his prey on the prickly stems, but I don't think he was; he kept lowering his head, as though he was feeding another bird below, and then I caught him as he brought it back up again.  Surely they're not nesting already?! A short walk up through Altan Wood brought no grouse, just a flock of long-tailed tits, a coal tit, and two goldcrests chasing each other round a pine tree.