Help identifying...Kinder Scout, Peak District Derbys (1 Viewer)

[hiirihaukka]

Hello, can anyone help me Id a bird I saw last week please? Habitat...by a narrow brook running off North Country hill/moorland. Size...Bigger than a sparrow, but seemed smaller than a starling. Coloration....Drab. Brown upper parts, looked grey beneath, no sign of any white patches, neck rings etc. Voice...VERY DISTINCTIVE. Like two stones or marbles 'clacking' together.
Best Regards, Andrew.

 

[THE_FERN]

Hello, can anyone help me Id a bird I saw last week please? Habitat...by a narrow brook running off North Country hill/moorland. Size...Bigger than a sparrow, but seemed smaller than a starling. Coloration....Drab. Brown upper parts, looked grey beneath, no sign of any white patches, neck rings etc. Voice...VERY DISTINCTIVE. Like two stones or marbles 'clacking' together.
Best Regards, Andrew.

Check stonechat at (e.g.) xeno canto:

European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) :: xeno-canto

Or ebird:

https://ebird.org/species/stonec4

 

[hiirihaukka]

Yes I think you're right, I'd looked up stone hats, and they are much more colourful, but this could have been a juvenile, they are more drab. So,is this clacking noise a common voicing of stonechats?

 

[Steve Lister]

Female or maybe juv Stonechat, though the latter will be spotty at the moment. Call description is spot on.

 

[stevethehydra]

You may also have seen a Meadow Pipit (by far the commonest small bird in any moorland habitat in England) and heard a Stonechat at the same time...

 

[Simon G]

Female Northern Wheatear fits the description too. If it was a plain unstreaked bird calling from the ground or a rock, that's perhaps a better bet. A streaky brown bird calling from a perch is more likely to be a Stonechat.