Whinchat

Saxicola rubetra

Caislín aitinn

Status All Ireland:  Breeding
Population estimate all Ireland: 100 – 200 pairs
Trend (12 years): Decline
Trend (40 years): Decline

Survey timing: May to July

Habitat: Grasslands

Occurrence: Antrim hills, Kildare bogs, Shannon Callows, Wicklow hills

Habitat preference (simple description of preferred nesting habitat): Grassland, ground nesting, insectivorous, Afro-Palearctic migrant that occurs in Ireland between April and August. Nests are usually well hidden in vegetation at ground level, occasionally in already-existing hollows. They also use herbaceous ground vegetation – specifically use areas of bracken (in Wicklow) and wet cutaway bog areas, often rich in Filipendula (Meadowsweet), in Kildare.

Preferred ways to establish breeding status: They are territorial, and probably breeding can be indicated by a bird holding territory. Breeding can be proven through observations of adults carrying food or faecal sac, recently fledged young seen or heard (begging calls).