The Whinchat is a small bird with striking plumage, a dark face with a white eye stripe and an orange throat and chest. It visits the UK in the spring and summer, arriving in April and leaving in August for west Africa.
Whinchat is on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List and the Scottish Biodiversity List, which lists the species most in need of targeted action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Scotland.
Photos: Ben Andrew for rspb-images.com
Illustration: Mike Langman for rspb-images.com
Action Needed
Farmers and crofters need to be supported to do more for nature through better funding for nature-friendly farming. RSPB Scotland are calling for the budget for nature-friendly farming to increase from 5% in 2025 to 25% at the start of the new Parliament and gradually reach 75% by the start of the 2031 Parliament.
For Whinchat specifically, farmers and crofters need to be incentivised to cut sileage crops later and to manage for a low level of grazing.
We also need landscape-scale land use planning to ensure a joined-up approach to where increased tree cover in our uplands should play a role.
Threats
Whinchats have been in decline since the 1990s and this is thought to be linked to more intensive management of farmland and grassland. Whinchats that nest in pasture are vulnerable to early mowing, which takes place more frequently with the move from hay to sileage and changes in the growing season. Pesticide and herbicide use reduces insect numbers. Intensification of lowland farming has pushed Whinchats into upland areas, but these are now intensifying as well, and in some cases changing over to forestry plantations. Whinchats need diverse mosaic habitats with plenty of perches along with open grassland, and under-grazing or overgrazing can both put this at risk.
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