Wednesday 21 December 2016

Arrival

The redwings are here! This morning, as I was walking home from the shops, several dozen of them suddenly exploded from a berry-laden holly tree and darted off in all directions, calling to each other with that strange silvery (and sylvan) note, a winter sound. Apart from a few individuals I'd seen in recent weeks, these were my first redwings of the year - a proper foraging party, and I soon realised they were far from alone. All through the afternoon I was spotting bands of redwings, in flight or perched high on trees or gorging on berries. Perhaps we're in for some proper cold winter weather after all - we could certainly do with it.

2 comments:

  1. Quite a lot of them down here (Andalucia) in La-La Land at the moment. Locals tell me they head down from France at the end of the summer. Seemingly, there are plenty of them, swirling about, looking rather like Starlings when in flight.

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  2. Gosh - I'd no idea they flew that far South, tho it makes perfect sense if they're after escaping the cold. The bird equivalent of Scandinavian sun-seekers...

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