Hi there
So pleased after seeing one Redwing today in my garden ..... the same bird had reappeared a couple more times
This bird loves the bits of apple on the ground. It flies away with whole chunks of apple and then comes back again for more apple {apple thief}
Here are some pictures - sorry for the quality as the picture was taken through glass and the flash kept going off.
The 3rd picture shows My friendly Mr Blackbird sizing up the competition on the bottom right of the picture
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Hi,
I thought that I saw two redwings in my garden in early January. I have 5 feeders and a birdtable and 10 free-range hens in a 3/4 acre mixed garden with plenty of berries, trees, hedges etc. Sadly I was proved right in late January when the thaw set in and I found a frozen dead redwing under the snow. Perhaps deepest West-Herefordshire is one step too far.
John
During the very cold spell I had a fieldfare turn up. I'd never seen one before, and was undecided as to whether it was an oddly marked thrush or a female blackbird, so I turned to the ID charts and was delighted to find out that I had a 'new' bird in the garden. Then the bird took over, it particularly enjoyed the windfall apples that I leave over winter for the blackbirds, the kitchen scraps, and the suet balls that I crumbled and put on the ground because of the harsh weather. It drove away the blackbirds, and had a spectacular scrap with a starling when the starling refused to back down over a bit of buttered toast.
Once the snow had gone, it left the garden, and I presume it's gone to the nearby farmland, but I did get quite used to glancing out of the study window and seeing it sitting in the plum tree, staring at me until I went outside with more food.
I'm pleased to report that the blackbirds have returned, and so has the songthrush
Hi There
We also had several Redwings visit our patch during the recent cold spell. It started with a pair which were regular visitors over two to three days and then the following four days or so we had counted upto 7 in total - they certainly made a good job of the berries from our southern boundary hedging of Pyracantha - they even out numbered our local Blackbird population. Practically NO berries left now!
John & Gina
No sooner had I read the email saying that Redwing & Fieldfare were being reported when a lone Fieldfare spent about ten minutes 'surveying' my garden, I will put out some fruit now I know what they like.
Thought it was a Thrush to begin with (I rarely see them in my garded) mainly Greenfinch & Blackbirds, but then saw the yellow beak.
Graham F[
I had a redwing in my garden too on Jan 17th-eating apple I had put out. I have been amazed at the numbers of birds visiting. I can hardly keep up with feeding them all. I try to put out all sorts from fruit, soaked bread, meal worms, nuts and seeds and fat balls.
New visitors this winter include goldfinch, nuthatch, woodpecker, bullfinch..they are all such a joy to watch!
Mary
Hi we had a redwing visit our garden, but we saw at least 30 of them in the cemetary opposite our house.... think they have migrated over here, so we have been feeding them mealworms amongst all the other birds in the cemetary and in our garden.......
Costing a small fortune but worth every penny to have the pure joy of spotting a new visitor, this week we had our first goldcrest to our garden.
We also have a pair of robins which seem to be getting on great so hopefully little ones in the spring.......
We had a whole flock of redwings appear in our garden on christmas day.
These continued to come through out the bad weather, we are still seeing the odd one, infact we had one appear during our garden bird watch.
On the 10th January we saw our first field fare but didn't find out what it was till we watched snow watch on the BBC.
Hi
I have very similar pics! Thrilled to have Redwings and Fieldfares visiting for the first time ever. Very happy with all fruit and came every snowy day. Liz near Cardiff
I have a self seeded pyracantheus bush in my garden I nearly pulled it up a couple of years ago, it was absolutely covered iin berries, during the recent snowy weather about 20 birds descended upon it, I didn't know what they were as I had never seen them before, I stood amazed then my grandson saw them and said they were redwings. They all took off together but hadn't completely stripped the bush, lo and behold they were back the next day and came until the bush was stripped bare, The blackbirds and smaller birds were under the bush clearing up all the fallen berries. it was wonderful to see. I wish now I had taken photos but was mesmerised, and being retired spent a lot of time watching them. I will certainly watch out for them next year, the bush can stay! You wouldn't believe I live in a suburb of London shirley
selina
I was in Bagshot this Christmas and saw ten to fifteen Redwings in my sons garden, but all were feeding on berries in the hedges - not the bird table.
I have not seen many in my garden, just the occasional one.
A group of blackbirds are always fighting over scraps I leave, it is fun to watch the dominate bird try to defend these and see the other birds take the food while he is distracted! Yesterday a Kestrel tried to catch one but failed.
I was also very dissapointed to find the body of a Curlew, it had not been attacked as there were no marks on it, he must have died of starvation, cold or poisoning.
Jim Bostock - South Wales