What they like

Open country with messy edges. Rough grasslands, heath, dikes, dunes, flower-rich field margins. Anywhere with low vegetation to hide in and posts, branches or fence posts to scan from. Do: leave patches of grass longer, mow in phases, and put a few stakes or a brush pile here and there. In gardens and parks: make a wild corner with sheep’s sorrel, oxeye daisy, knapweed, bird’s-foot trefoil and thistles. Don’t rake it tidy. Let it be alive.

Ecological importance

A fast insect-eater. Takes beetles, flies, caterpillars, grasshoppers and spiders; in autumn also berries. It is itself prey for the sparrowhawk and sometimes a cat. More cover and more insects = more stonechats.

When in the Netherlands

Mostly from March through October. A small number overwinter, but most migrate to southwest Europe and Africa.

Status

A breeding bird struggling because of impoverishment and scrub encroachment of open landscapes. It has declined in many areas, but fortunately things have improved a bit in recent years.