A Redwing Morning

This is most unusual. We’ve had two days of frost with minus 2° on the temperature display at 0600 this morning. Not cold by some standards although the forecast was spot on and I was well prepared with five layers on top, three below, a very woolly hat and a scarf. 

I met Andy at Oakenclough where we were very unsure of the birds we might see and those we might catch in a period that is not quite autumn but also a tad off midwinter.

Perhaps the previous couple of days of zero temperatures had an effect on birds too because the morning saw a heavy movement of thrushes and to a lesser extent finches. From 0700 to 1000 we counted approximately 2000 thrushes arriving from the north and north-west. Many birds continued on south with some stopping off to feed on the still abundant crop of hawthorn and rowan.

Soon after 10 am the arrivals stopped and around 1030 we decided to pack in. 

The flocks and smaller parties numbered between two and 200 individuals, mostly Redwings but with a small proportion of Fieldfares. We estimated 1750 Redwings and 250 Fieldfares in the three hour slot. 

Luckily we managed to catch Redwings in our biggest catch of the species this autumn. We were not so lucky with the mornings’ other arrivals so finished with just 25 birds of 5 species only - 21 Redwing, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Song Thrush. 

Of the 21 Redwings, 19 were birds of the year (Code 3) and 2 adults (Code 4), a high ratio of juvenile/first years. 

Lesser Redpoll 

Redwing - first year

Song Thrush - first year 

A Redwing Morning 

Finches noted this morning, also from north to south - 35+ Goldfinch, 30+ Chaffinch, 12 Greenfinch, unidentified 30+. Also - 18 Lapwing , 1 Jay, 1 Raven, 1 Pied Wagtail. 

On the way home via Pilling Moss there was a flock of Fieldfares numbering 150+ feeding along a hawthorn hedge, obviously part of the morning’s arrivals that we hadn’t seen some 12 miles away. 

Fieldfare 

P.S. A fellow Lancashire ringer caught 64 Redwings near Lancaster this morning.

Redwing

This was a morning when huge numbers of both Redwings and Fieldfares on the move.

Linking today to Anni in Texas and Eileen's Saturday Blog.