Each year in which we have visited the island of Islay in October/November, in the final week of our visit in early to mid-November, we keep an eye open for these beautiful little winter visitors, and rarely are we disappointed. Largely white and black, but with some brown on the mantle, that is especially noticeable as small patches on its ‘cheeks’, as a thin necklace across its upper breast, and as a cute ‘Mohican’ down the centre of its crown. Its bill seems a little deeper than its length would suggest and this, together with its plumage, makes it an eye-catching and distinctive species.
Sometimes we have been fortunate enough to encounter a small flock of them, but often we find just singletons, peering at us as inquisitively as the Wheatears did, from the tops of the same boulders, only a few weeks earlier.
Lee
Sometimes we have been fortunate enough to encounter a small flock of them, but often we find just singletons, peering at us as inquisitively as the Wheatears did, from the tops of the same boulders, only a few weeks earlier.
Lee
