Phoenicurus ochruros
A sooty, fire-tailed rarity of power stations, cliffs, and city rooftops rather than woodland.
Size: 14.5 cm | Habitat: Sea, Marsh, Estuary & Shoreline Birds | Season: All year
One of Britain's rarest breeding birds, the black redstart nests not in woodland but on cliffs, quarries, and industrial and urban sites, from power stations to derelict city-centre buildings, constantly flicking its bright rust-red tail.
Sooty grey-black plumage (male) or grey-brown (female) · bright rust-orange tail, constantly quivered · white wing patch on adult males · favours bare, rocky, or industrial ground
Black redstarts nest in cavities on cliffs, quarries, and industrial or derelict buildings, feeding on insects taken from bare or sparsely vegetated ground nearby. UK numbers are boosted in autumn and winter by continental migrants passing through or wintering on the coast.
London's bomb-damaged sites after the Second World War became an unlikely stronghold for black redstarts, which found the bare rubble and ruins a close match for their natural cliff and scree habitat.
Black redstart is one of Britain's rarest breeding birds, with a UK population thought to peak at only around 100-120 pairs, yet it thrives in a habitat niche almost no other British bird occupies: bare, rocky, or industrial ground, from quarries and cliffs to power stations and derelict city-centre buildings. London's bomb-damaged sites after the Second World War famously became an unlikely stronghold, the rubble and ruins mimicking the bird's natural cliff and scree habitat closely enough to support a thriving population for decades.
Despite its tiny numbers, recent upturns have been enough to move the species from Red to Amber in BoCC5, though as a genuinely scarce breeder it remains closely monitored by the UK's Rare Breeding Birds Panel, and its population is prone to natural fluctuation given how few pairs there are to begin with.
🟠 Conservation status: Amber (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Amber-listed after a recent upturn in its tiny breeding population, though it remains one of Britain's rarest nesting birds.