Gould wrote 'If you ascend a glen in the Highlands from the sea-shore to its upper limits, the Wheatear is sure to be one of the few birds which greet you at every turn in the valley, and may be seen on every stony projection, livelily flirting its tail and showing the conspicuous patch of white on its rump, as its flits bobbingly from stone to stone or rock to rock.'

Gould related how the migratory Wheatears left tropical Africa in early spring and reached England usually in early March, when they could be seen on the downs around Brighton, Beachy Head and other parts of Sussex, before flying to Yorkshire and Derbyshire, where some bred, and others continued northwards.

A male and female in the foreground are depicted with a Spider Orchid Ophrys aranifera.

DISTRIBUTION: Breeds through Holarctic and northwest Africa, between 78°N and 26°N. Winters in Africa - in broad belt south of Sahara from West African coast to Indian Ocean and south in eastern Africa to northern Zambia. In Britain long-term decline in numbers since nineteenth century, mainly due to habitat changes