Winter takes flight

Bill Meek pays tribute to some of Lincolnshire’s most popular breeds of wild birds, seen during winter months.

The handsome Mistle Thrush is the largest of Lincolnshire’s five common species of thrush. It is also the least likely to wander, with most birds remaining near their breeding areas all year round. A thrush singing from a high tree in midwinter is likely to be a Mistle Thrush, preparing for an early breeding attempt in spring.

But anyone spending time out of doors in winter cannot fail to notice the large increase in the number of Blackbirds. Already one of Britain’s commonest breeding birds, Blackbird numbers are hugely augmented in autumn and winter by birds escaping cold weather and food shortages on the near continent, in Scandinavia and the countries of the Baltic.

In Lincolnshire, Blackbirds can often be seen flying in from the sea in favourable winds, and on the right mornings tired immigrant Blackbirds can litter our coastal bushes and trees. Many Blackbirds in autumn and spring are merely passing through on much longer journeys; interestingly the birds from the furthest north may finish up furthest south.

Northern Blackbirds can push south as far as Spain and Portugal in winter, but may get there via our own gardens.

On the move
Occasionally, “falls” of Song Thrushes can also be experienced along the Lincolnshire coast, although these are less frequent – Song Thrushes are generally more sedentary than Blackbirds. Song Thrushes have become much less common in Lincolnshire over the last 50 years – for a flavour of how common they used to be, visit Britain’s western outposts and islands where they seem to be faring better.

There are two species of thrush which visit our shores only in winter – they do not breed here. The handsome and colourful Fieldfare breeds across Fennoscandia, with the whole population moving southwards and westwards in winter into the milder parts of Europe. Many flocks, whose ‘chack-chack-chack’ calls may be heard as birds pass overhead, spend the winter in British orchards, hedgerows and fields, although as with the other species, some are just passing through.

The greatest wanderer of the five is our smallest thrush, the Redwing. This handsomely-marked thrush, with its bold white eyestripe and red underwing patch, breeds in Scandinavia and Russia, with some Redwings undertaking the longest migrations of any of the European thrushes.

How they distribute themselves in winter depends a lot on weather patterns and food availability, and Redwings do not necessarily take the same route in subsequent winters – a bird wintering in Lincolnshire this winter could spend next winter as far away as Iran.

There are always good numbers of Redwings in Britain, and flocks can be seen feeding on berries in hedgerows or on earthworms and other invertebrates in fields.

Their thin, silvery high-pitched calls as they pass overhead in autumn are well known to birdwatchers, and contribute one of autumn’s essential, often subconscious, background sounds. These calls can often be heard from migrating birds at night – if you hear them in the daytime, look upwards and you are sure to see parties of these delicate thrushes, which are similar in size to Starlings, passing overhead.

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