Black Redstart

18th April 2022 - a female Black Redstart was spotted by Andy M along North Road, perching on a row of fence posts, and making brief sorties out to catch insects before returning to the posts, often showing it's characteristic rusty-orange tail flash. 

This relatively scarce robin-sized bird can be seen, rarely, in the UK all year round. Small numbers are resident, with as few as 20-50 pairs breeding in the UK (largely in the south-east), so most sightings are of passage migrants passing through from the Mediterranean during spring and autumn.  Generally, there are only around ten sightings in Cambridgeshire each year.

Reported only twice before in the Abingtons; in November 2010, and on 20th April 2016.