Reddy for Action

Monday mornings are babysitting. So there I was about 0730, not long after first decent birding light nowadays, waiting outside the door for the latecomers whilst simultaneously watching and looking skywards just in case. I half expected Redwings as there have been reports from the Pennines for a few days with odd ones reaching the coast.

Within a few minutes I saw a loose flock of birds coming from a westerly direction of Staynall and the Wyre. I thought they might be Redwings because they always fly a little looser, a bit further apart than Starlings of the similar size; the old “jizz” recognition still works. The flock got closer with the familiar calls overhead so I started counting with 80/90 in that first flock as they went over in a north-easterly direction, disappearing over Stalmine village. Within the next hour and a half I counted further flocks and small groups all going in the same direction towards the Pennines, reaching a grand total of 250+. Looking at other blogs and websites it seems that this may have been a very localised occurrence.

Redwing photo courtesy of Andreas Trepte http://www.photo-natur.de/

Whilst all this Redwing activity was going on, the usual early morning rush of bird activity even thrushes, Goldfinch and Chaffinch persuaded me to put up a garden net. All in the course of educating Olivia about birds you understand.

The first bird I caught was a Song Thrush, a species that I don’t necessarily see in my garden for months at a time so scarce are they. It was a pretty immaculate specimen, in peak looks and condition as fresh migrant thrushes often are.



I also caught a couple of Blackbirds, a protesting Starling, Blue and Great Tit together with 3 Coal Tit.









Oh, the babysitting went fine and Olivia wants to be a birder but she’s not quite four at the moment.

A good week of weather is forecast, fingers crossed that the rest of October is just the best ever.