Redwings and fieldfares

Just made my first post on another thread - same topic - just thought I would double up. Afternoon all, My family and I have just had a strange but enjoyable Saturday afternoon. Somewhere between 50 & 100 Redwings with a few intermingled Fieldfares spent at least two hours in the back garden in Tooting, London. My boy and I are fairly keen birdwatchers but I haven't seen either of these birds in London before. Is this a rare thing? Is the weather pushing them into Cities?

Hi all

Thanks for all the comments about your recent sightings, its great to see these charming birds up close in the garden environment. This cold snap has forced them, and many other species, to occur in areas that they would not normally be seen in.

If you have seen something unusual in your garden or just want to record your garden regulars, please remember to record them here on BirdTrack as this information is really useful to the work that the BTO and ourselves do with regards to monitoring trends in bird populations and movements.

Thanks and keep those sightings coming in!

IanH

 

 

hi There 

On Saturday I opened up the curtains to find 4 Fieldfares,2 Redwing~A huge Mistle Thrush and 3 small Thrushes~ don't usually have any of these in my small back garden.

One of the Fieldfares is  a lot bigger and causing a lot of grief to the resident bird population of Blackbirds Starlings etc as well as his travelling companions.~ he is really aggressive.

I have tried moving the feeders with some success for the smaller birds Nuthatches,Robins Bullfinches,Sparrows,Dunnocks and Goldfinches  and mixed Tits but not sure what else to do other than throw fruit on my flat double garage roof for the larger birds and trays of mixed sunflower  etc.

Unfortunately the fruit has drawn in huge Gulls as we are only 5 mins or less flying time  from the coast.~ not what I want ~there is a large population of them and I have no wish to start feeding them !~ I have my work cut out to afford doing what I do already!

Fred the Fieldfare,the largest of the group has spent  the last two days chasing everything in sight~ surely he can't keep it up and is using valuable energy?~

The other Fieldfares seem to have gone ~ I am only seeing the one when before they were all able to be seen at the same time.~ the other Thrushes and Redwing seem to be still with me.

any advice please?

Arlene

 

Hello everyone! Well we must be doing something right in our garden just outside of Audlem in south Cheshire as we have had a few Fieldfares this year which are doing battle with a pair of Blackbirds, lots of Greenfinches, Black Caps which frequently take fruit cake from our table, Mistle thrushes (unfortunatley we also found one dead which appeared malnurished), longtailed and cole tits and the usual house sparrows, starlings, jackdaws and a few nuthatches... all in a weeks worth of watching as im on leave from work. The garden is alive at the moment with birds, apples are attracting so many Fieldfares and Blackbirds which is causing them to squabble like mad! The Blackbirds are like sentinels just watching over the lawns, we have spread apples over a wide area to discourage the chasing but i guess its natures law, they do seem to be getting a good peck now then between them! The Black Caps are my favourite though, the caps on the heads are quite striking! I havnt seen many Greenfinches then yesterday about 3 or 4 went for the bird seed, good to see! The longtailed tits are out in force too and are all over the suet filled coconut shells, pied wagtails too feasting on the mealworms! I guess the weather has driven most to the extremes in their hunting and foraging during harsh times like these.