Last week I gave you this sad scene with a mystery victim to try to identify:

I thought it might be an interesting one, because when I first saw it my mind took me around the houses thinking about what it was.

My first thought was actually that it had some features I associated with a European Stonechat:

But on closer inspection I realised that the bill was surrounded by red feathers rather than black, and the “black” feathers were probably not originally black, and were as a result of staining from the products of decomposition.

A similar sized chat that’s more commonly encountered in the area fits the “bill” more closely – or more to the point the feathers around the bill fit its plumage more closely. The European Robin Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758).

So well done to Hilary, Chris and Joe who all saw through the feather discolouration and recognised the bold and beautiful bird that this sorry specimen started out as. Now all remains is to do the CSI work to figure out if this gruesome death was the result of a cat, a car or a window – three of the most common terminators of urban birds…