Stonechat are common breeding birds in Devon but perhaps not in August.  I was told of a nest that contained youngsters somewhere on Dartmoor and with the breeding season almost completely over elsewhere I thought I would go and see if I could find it. I had been given good directions but it was still quite hard to find the nest.  I found the area and the territory without too much difficulty,  apart from quite a hike and a lot of physical effort. When I got there I found the pair of birds just where I was told they would be. I had a cursory look around but I was conscious that I was disturbing them so I decided to sit well away and watch where they were going.  I noted there favourite perches where they were sighting flying insects which they would then catch on the wing and usually fly back, flycatcher-like to the perch they had flown from.  This was obviously a great photo opportunity, the light was perfect, the background even better and I would have been really disappointed if I hadn't been able to get some good photographs.  Half of the difficulty of good bird photography is finding your subject and then having good light and a good background. It isn't too often that all these factors are in place but in this case they were. After a couple of hours it was time to go home and before I departed I just went for a quick look again and this time I found it immediately.  It contained 3 fully feathered youngsters and I moved away quickly so as as not to cause any disturbance. It was exciting to find the nest and a great education to find the nest and have a quick look.  An extremely rewarding day.

Like I said the photo opportunities were immense. Perfect light, beautiful subject and a great distant background .

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This is the sequence that these photos were taken. This is the female of course.

Just missed the bird in flight, the wings are just closing.

Here she opens her wings to balance just a split second after landing.

Again, the male here is photographs at the instant it landed,

Now he calls a location call to his mate.