Redstart Ramble

Sherwood Forest is a special place with a wealth of special wildlife. The redstart is an iconic bird of Sherwood Forest – more widespread and numerous in upland areas, it is on the edge of its eastern range in the Midlands here in Sherwood Forest.

Redstarts are summer migrants, about the size of a robin, but slimmer with a red tail, which is obvious when seen and they have the habit of frequently flicking their tail.  Its name means red tail as ‘start’ derives from ‘steort’, Old English for tail. The male is one of our brightest summer visitors – a colourful mix of red tail and breast, bluish grey back, black face and a striking white flash above the beak.

In Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, redstarts favour areas of wood pasture – areas of widely spaced trees (ancient oaks and birches) with grass underneath. This habitat is maintained by grazing with longhorn cattle and thinning of birch trees.

Working in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council, we have been helping with guided walks at Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve. Last Sunday was a Redstart Ramble, so I joined Claire Watson and Gary Joynt, both Nottinghamshire County Council staff, to take our group on a wander into the forest in search of redstarts.

A male redstart was singing well, but frustratingly out of sight – a bright bird they’re good at hiding amongst birch leaves! Males often perch atop the dead crowns of veteran oaks where they are easier to see. I’d taken Southwell University of the Third Age birdwatching group along the same route a couple of days earlier and the same male gave a wonderful performance out in the open, but not on the Redstart Ramble – ahhh!

We heard five singing males and had some tantalising glimpses and then a male was feeding on the path right in front of us, in a territory I’d found a few days ago. Fantastic, and phew! Birds don’t always perform as you hope and this was our first Redstart Ramble event, so we wanted everyone to get good views, especially as some people had never seen a redstart. The male was joined by its mate and the pair showed very well, dropping onto the ground to feed and the male singing. Further on, there was more redstart action with two males chasing and displaying to a female.

The photograph below shows a male redstart seen in Sherwood Forest on the Redstart Ramble.

Redstart photograph © vivthesetter

The study of the redstart is linked to the inspiring story of British POWs held captive in Germany during WW2 and their study of birds in and around their prison camps. RSPB member of staff, Derek Niemann, is author of ‘Birds in a Cage’ about four prisoners, who went on to become influential figures of British conservation. One of them, John Buxton, studied redstarts and he wrote the New Naturalist monograph on the species. I’m borrowing the copy from The Lodge’s library and it has some redstart tail feathers stuck inside the back cover. I don’t know who the book used to belong to, but I like to think of someone studying redstarts and collecting those feathers – a species able to inspire men through such difficult times and one to cherish and help now.