Jump-on-a-Pole
The Stonechat is named after its call; a sound like two stones being banged together. I’ve really enjoyed my time with them in the past:
What I’d really like to do is get a photograph of one like this in Charles Tunnicliffe’s illustration in the Brooke Bond Tea Cards album of Bird Portraits:
eBird describes the Stonechat well:
“Fairly common, perky little bird of open country, especially heathland with gorse, moorland, rough grassland with scattered low bushes. Perches atop bushes and on fences, dropping to the ground to feed, before flying back up to a perch.”
In Italy the Stonechat is called saltimpalo. I checked the meaning of saltimpalo. It means Jump-on-a-Pole. It’s the perfect name for it. Here’s this weekend’s photo of a male on the highest branch of a Gorse bush.
It’s the closest I’ve got to Charles Tunnicliffe’s illustration so far. I think that deserves a cup of tea, don’t you?