A confirmed sighting of a bird has given hope that the species may be tempted to breed in the city once again. The male black was spotted at at an undisclosed location in Nottingham City Centre last week.
The black redstart, a robin sized member of the chat sub-family that also includes robins, stonechats and nightingales, generally breed in mountainous regions, seeking out rocky cliffs and crags. But after the Second World War, the birds took up residence on bombed out buildings which replicated their preferred nesting conditions – earning the species the nickname ‘bomb-site bird'.
In addition to replicating their nesting sites, disturbed ground around derelict buildings provided a close match for the stony, weedy areas they would find on mountain screes. As a result, they became a regular site in a number of UK cities including London, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham.
