A Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) sits on a newly erected metal fence in a renaturation area in one of the peatbog areas in southern Brandenburg. It is winter and there has already been a few days of permanent frost. Snow lies partly thick on the posts and the ground. Nevertheless, the male Stonechat obviously finds food. Again and again the Stonechat flies from its perch on the fence and then quickly returns to one of the posts.
Compared to its close-related cousin, the Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra), Stonechats are much more winter hardy and can be observed as early as February, for example in the Netherlands. Many sightings occur again in early to mid-March, when the Stonechats return from their winter quarters in the Mediterranean.
Perhaps a winter population is slowly establishing itself in Germany. Stonechats have also been observed in other parts of Brandenburg in the last few days and weeks. In addition to the sighting in Trebbin, Stonechats were recently seen from Hirschfeld, from the Elbe near Köttlitz and Luckau. Of course, with one exception, these are individual sightings.
Stonechats are not that uncommon to observe in open-land habitats such as wet meadows, moors, heaths or even larger fallow areas. There they can be seen on fence posts or – as in this case – on fence wire, but also on the stems of perennials and the tips of small bushes, when they catch insects from there or pick them up from the ground. In Germany, Stonechats are more common in the west and east than in the south, where they are completely absent in large areas. Since the 1980s, populations of stonechats in Germany has increased significantly, and new habitats, including those at higher altitudes, are being repopulated or repopulated.
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