Look out for thrushes over Swindon during the winter months

Matt Prior, Wiltshire Ornithological Society conservation officer, says Redwings and Fieldfares are now much in evidence.

If you stand outside after dark at this time of year there is a very good chance that you will hear a high pitched ‘seeep’ overhead.

This is the flight call of the redwing and you are witnessing migration happening right over Swindon. Redwings are a thrush, slightly smaller than a song thrush and they breed across Scandinavia. They then migrate south for the winter and are present in very good numbers across the UK.

They feed on berries, especially hawthorn and can be found wherever there are natural hedgerows. They also like other berries and are often found feeding on pyracantha and rowan. All of these trees and shrubs are suitable to be planted in gardens.

The best local places to look for redwings are Mouldon Hill Country Park and the adjacent Purton Wood, as well as Sevenfields Nature Reserve, because these locations have many high quality hedgerows containing lots of berries.

Redwings can form large flocks and they are often joined by another thrush called a fieldfare which also breed across northern Europe. Redwings are slightly smaller than fieldfares that are about the same size as a blackbird.

Fieldfares are much more a bird of open fields and hedgerows but occasionally one will take up residence in a garden, especially if it has a tree laden with berries. Fieldfares give away their presence with a harsh ‘chack chack’ call as they fly overhead and they are more often encountered in large flocks early in the morning.

A great way to attract thrushes to gardens is to put apples out for them to feed on. This works especially well in cold weather when natural food is harder to come by. Apples can be fed in a couple of different ways, either by scattering whole or cut in halves on the ground, or by cutting them in half and then sticking them cut side upwards on thorns or branches of trees.

Some people feed thrushes by scattering raisins or sultanas across the ground but this is quite an extravagant way of feeding birds.

Soft foods are also suitable: suet pellets are very successful and stale cakes crumbled up are good alternatives. Putting them out for the birds is much better than binning them.

Redwings and fieldfares migrate back to northern Europe between February and April, so enjoy them whilst they are here.