Bird of month - Redwing

On a winter walk you may come across a bush, or several bushes, from which birds begin to fly, then more and more appear
until you find it hard to believe they could
all have been in the bush in the first place!
These birds are Redwings, a very common bird in the Blackwater Valley and most of Britain in winter. They first appear in
October and are often heard passing over
at night distinguished by their soft calls.

The Redwing is a member of the thrush family and is about the same size as a Song Thrush, perhaps a little slighter in shape
but darker in colour. The distinctive red underwing, also visible on the breast sides with the wings folded, plus the white line above the eye gives the bird away, as well as its gregarious habits, which is in contrast to the more solitary Song Thrush.

My first memorable encounter with Redwings was away from our Valley on the Lincolnshire coast one October where I witnessed a ‘fall of thrushes’, mainly Redwing but also their close cousins, the Fieldfare. To see them at dawn flying in off the sea and dropping to rest by the hundred into the sparse bushes was a real spectacle. They then spread rapidly across the country and are appearing in waves in our local counties in the same month.

Redwing is an almost impossible bird to count, because a lot of the time they are hidden in dense bushes feeding quietly on berries. Apart from a few squeaks and whistling sounds, they are only seen when they start moving out as described above. At the same time, you can see hundreds of them in open fields mixed with Fieldfare and sometimes Mistle Thrushes, often on stubble, where they can seek worms and invertebrates with their characteristic few running steps and hops.

Most of our winter Redwing come from Siberia and there the population is enormous, with Russia, Norway and Sweden maybe holding over a million birds while Finland has well over two million. The British winter population has been estimated at about 750,000 birds with a westerly/south-westerly bias. If you found a breeding Redwing you would be very lucky as only a few score pairs breed in this country, mainly in the Highlands of Scotland.

I have recorded Redwing everywhere in our Valley, including my own back garden when we have a few berries on our holly and shrubs. Just look for thrush-sized birds in flocks, often moving quietly from bush to bush or feeding in fields and there they will be. With the aid of binoculars the eye stripe and the red breast sides are quite easily seen and you will realise our winter is not so bad after all as these birds come here for a warm holiday returning to Siberia by April with just a few exceptions lingering longer!

Colin Wilson

Berkshire Ornithological Club
www.berksoc.org.uk        

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