Jonny Cooper was carrying out a ringing session at the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Langford Lakes this morning. Checking the nets he came across this in one of his nets:
Redwing, Turdus iliacus
This winter visitor seems to have failed to make the move northwards. I have checked the group records and we have recorded 3,475 encounters with Redwing since the year 2000. Prior to Jonny’s catch today the latest record we had for an encounter with a Redwing was on the 28th March 2019, by me, at Tedworth House.
This bird is a second year bird, i.e. fledged in 2023. It had wing length of 117mm and weighed in at 97.9g. Both are well within normal ranges for this species. Unsurprisingly, it showed no sign of breeding condition. One can only speculate on the reasons for this bird having failed to migrate. Perhaps it failed to put on enough weight over the latter months of the winter, who knows?
This really is a remarkable record. I would love to know if there are any later records for England or, indeed, any confirmed records of over-summering Redwing in England.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 