The male bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) is one of the UK’s most beautiful migrants. These birds are called chats, and they visit the UK in spring and autumn. They fly from their winter homes in Africa and India, up to the Arctic Circle. Bluethroats are ‘Old World flycatchers’. They are Passerines, perching and songbirds, in the family Muscicapidae, which includes robins, flycatchers and other chats.
You are lucky if you see a bluethroat in the UK. Data recorded through the 1960s recorded only around 600 birds. They are seen mainly around the southern and eastern coasts of the UK, from Cornwall anticlockwise to the north of Scotland. Only one breeding pair in the UK has been reported, in Scotland in 1968. They construct nests of moss, twigs and grass, lining them with material such as soft animal hair. They can produce two broods each year, laying up to seven eggs. They typically prefer thick vegetation, flitting quickly in and out of bushes. During the mating season the males find open perches, fan their tails and sing. They can mimic more than 50 other bird calls.
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