(phoenicurus phoenicurus)
The (Common) Redstart is a summer visitor to Scotland. It winters in west Africa and will usually appear in the east Loch Lomond woods in late April. At that time the trees are still leafless and a male bird can easily be found singing from high on a tree top. Its song, along with that of the Wood Warbler, is the iconic sound of the ancient oak woodlands. Later when the trees are in full leaf the birds can be more difficult to locate though the males will continue to sing for some time. The closest images below are of a bird which I accidently stumbled over near its nest of barely fledged youngsters. The bird on Balcomie beach would have been one migrating south in the autumn.