Redwings: First arrival of redwings on coast reported as winter birds head to Yorkshire

They are similar in size to song thrushes with crimson patches under their wings which give them their name and a creamy stripe over the eyes.

They gather in hawthorn hedges to eat the red berries and can be hard to see until the flock flies out and away, flitting wildly from side to side.

From now on, on winter nights listen out for thin tseep tseep calls from overhead as redwing flocks move further inland.

The other winter thrushes, fieldfares, tend to arrive a little later when their favourite food, rowan berries, run out in Scandinavia.

Fieldfares are large birds, mistle thrush sized with a grey head, chestnut- coloured back and noticeable grey rump.

They are often seen on the ground feeding on invertebrates and a flock with announce its arrival with loud chack chack chack calls.

I watched fieldfares feeding young during a visit to Latvia this summer and they breed in a number of European countries. But only a very few pairs breed in this country, in Scotland and the Derbyshire Peak District, and there are no indications that this tiny population will increase.

Another bird to look out for is the brambling, much the same size as the chaffinch and often among their flocks.

Both species arrive here from Scandinavia and if you see a bird with a white rump fly up among them it is almost certain to be a brarmbling.

Also, the male chaffinch is pink all the way down from his throat to under the tail while the male brambling has what looks like an orange apron on his chest but below that his stomach is a clean white.

Huge numbers of pink-footed geese have been on the move both along the coast and inland. One with a neck collar fitted in Denmark was seen at the St Aidans reserve.

Short-eared owls have been arriving from Scandinavia including two at the RSPB's Bempton Cliffs reserve.

Flamborough birders held their annual Migweek and among sightings were Radde's, Pallas's and Dusky warblers, Red-flanked bluetail ringed at Bempton Cliffs and a little bunting at Thornwick Bay.

Pallas's warblers were also seen at Spurn and there continued to be a steady arrival of yellow-browed warblers all along the coast and a few inland including one with a tit flock at Potteric Carr and another at the Old Moor reserve,

An adult red-necked grebe continued to be seen on Waterloo Lake at Roundhay Park, Leeds and a juvenile on the Great Lake at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire.

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