A Redwing in my Redesdale Garden

It's been snowing off-and-on in Redesdale since mid-December. The last week has seen the heaviest falls and there is as much as a foot of snow in parts of my garden today. Naturally, the birds welcome any opportunity for an easy meal and the four feeders are being filled daily.

The list today included a pair of Brambling, the first of the winter in the garden, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Coal, Blue and Great Tits, Rook and Starling. A heron flew over at lunch time. But the greatest surprise of all the visitors today was a single Redwing (Turdus iliacus).

I had cleared the snow from the steps at my front door this morning and put out handfulls of a bird table seed mixture I was given at Christmas and some peanuts, chopped finely in the food processor. It was here, on the steps and just under my living room window, that the Redwing appeared. It's the first I've seen in the garden since moving into the valley more than six years ago.

I took the following pictures through my living room window; I didn't want to open the window for fear of frightening it away.