This winter I have noticed many more redwings about. These are types of thrushes which overwinter here from Scandinavia with a particular penchant for hawthorn berries.
Up close the red patch just below the wings becomes more noticeable. They also have bold white stripes above the eyes.
As well as feeding on berries redwings are often found foraging about for worms in leaf litter on the ground.
They often gather in flocks in the fields with other birds including other thrushes called fieldfares. They are very wary birds and will fly up at the slightest disturbance with an erratic undulating and tilting flight pattern.
Here are a couple of redwings feeding on the ground with some starlings.
Last year it was flocks of fieldfares that I noticed more. Here is a fieldfare below. This type of thrush is slightly larger than the redwing, has less of a marked white stripe above the eye and is greyer.
I don’t know why redwings seem to be far more prevalent than fieldfares this year, certainly around where I live, but they have been a beautiful addition to the recent wintry landscape. Unfettered by our human lockdown they will fly back to Scandinavia in the springtime.
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 