Red and Black

Red and Black. No not a new chocolate confection but a Black Redstart which I tracked down being on the Red UK Conservation status list. 

Hubs in the car still not allowed to drive and his instructions were to look out for a single black robin. I REALLY don't understand the sniggering as we rocked up to the docks and looked around at the area. Yes it was here and it was just a matter of being patient and it would show.  Oh yes! Actually I wasn't too hopeful (didn't let on that) but just knew it was a possibility.

100 breeding pairs in the UK and also listed as Schedule 1 species on the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Until just under 50years ago the black redstart had been known to nest only twice in the British Isles; a rather uncommon passage migrant. in 1923 the first pair bred on the south coast. It feeds on waste ground the kind provided by bomb sites after the Second World War so rebuilding doesn't help it.

It eats spiders, worms, seeds and berries though much is caught on the wing and it hovers briefly to catch flying insects. I think this is a juvenile female and I caught it at a distance on a container at the docks.