A Lovely Little Brown Job

As spring arrives, the moors and moorland fringe become home for a number of LBJs.

“Little brown jobs” is the rather endearing term the birdwatching community gives to all those small, brown, nondescript birds that come here to breed or live here for the whole year. The moors are not the place to find the highest density of LBJs but we have our share, and some are quite lovely.

One such is the stonechat, a bird about the size of a small robin but perhaps slightly slimmer. I’m not an expert on local vocabulary but I have never heard the word “chat” used in the manner I did when I lived in Angus. It was the term used when you knocked two cricket ball-sized stones together, which is exactly the sound the stonechat makes as it bobs up and down on the heather. Given the obvious connection, I presume that is the origin of the bird’s name as I can think of no other. The bobbing action is a distinctive feature of the bird’s activity as it makes its way around the area where it has set up home.