We come to berry

Throughout autumn a soft “see-ip, see-ip” call can often be heard high in the night sky. Somewhere in the dark void, wave after wave of migrating redwings are making their landfall after the long sea crossing from their breeding grounds in Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. Hundreds of thousands of redwings and their close cousin, the fieldfare, will be arriving in Scotland over the next few weeks, some to spend the winter and others just passing through, fleeing the harsh coldness that has already begun to sweep across the northern edges of Europe.

If there is one image that encapsulates autumn, it must surely be these chattering mixed flocks of fieldfares and redwings feeding upon the rich bounty of sparkling red hawthorn berries found along our country lanes. The fieldfares in particular like to cackle and bicker, making it a time of great excitement and activity, but winter is only just around the corner and in Scotland this can be a bit of a lottery for these enchanting birds.

Whilst our winter climate is mild in comparison to their northern breeding grounds, redwings and fieldfares don’t like heavy snow or prolonged periods of bitter frost and if an unusually cold spell takes grip in Scotland, as has happened in the last couple of years, many will move to the south-west of England or Ireland to seek respite, especially if the berry crop is exhausted.

The redwings and fieldfares that linger behind soon come to regret it. They look miserable as they sit hunched-up, with feathers ruffled to keep warm. Last winter we had a lone fieldfare that decided to tough it out by visiting our garden to forage upon windfall apples amongst the snow. Fieldfares are normally timid and take wing at the first sight of a person, but this bird was tame and approachable, such was its overwhelming desire to find food.

Both birds are handsome members of the thrush family. The fieldfare is particularly striking with its slate-grey head and rump and attractive buff-streaked breast. The redwing is smaller than the fieldfare and is similar in appearance to the songthrush, but can be fairly easily distinguished by its pale eye strip and reddish flanks, which are most distinctive in flight.

But whilst the fieldfare and redwing are immigrants, there is every chance that many other of your familiar autumn garden songbirds are not what they seem. The blackbird hopping across your lawn could well have been born in Finland. The robin on the fence post, while probably a homebred Scot, may have Scandinavian or German blood coursing through its veins. In other words, species that are typically resident in Scotland are migratory in other parts of their European range and come here to spend the winter, or are passing through on migration to other areas. You may have noticed, too, that songthrushes are scarce in your winter garden – the reason being that they are also partial migrants, with many heading off further south, some as far as France, Spain and Portugal.

In some years the waxwing – a real gem of a winter bird – visits our shores in good numbers. When there is a poor rowanberry crop in its haunts in Scandinavia and northern Russia, or perhaps when there has been a good breeding year, large influxes of these vinaceous birds can appear in all corners of Scotland. They often favour feeding in berry trees in city centres and places like Aberdeen are real hot-spots in invasion years. But they can turn up anywhere, and I have even seen them on Skye in the autumn and close to my home in Dollar last year. These large influxes of waxwings are quite regular – last year was excellent, and 2008 and 2004 were also superb years.

Only time will tell whether we are on the cusp of another vintage waxwing season, but what can be predicted with certainty is the arrival of flocks of fieldfares and redwings that will bring plenty of colour to our fields and hedgerows over the coming weeks.