Wildlife -Winter 2008

[Diane Clement]

A friend today saw a small group of birds, roughly chaffinch sized, with very dar, or black backs and very red chests.....only thing we can think they might have been are Black Red-starts... anyone heard of these getting blown our way? (Aberdeenshire, north eastern Scotland) 

Maggi, Black Redstarts don't have red chests and (Common) Redstarts are not in Britain in the winter. 
Try Bullfinch/Brambling/Stonechat??

[mark smyth]

Maggi, no redstarts at this time of year. Possibilities depending on numbers could be bullfinches, chaffinches, linnets or most probably they were bramblings

[mark smyth]

Stonechats should be in pairs only. I see two every day in an industrial estate that is being developed.

[Michael J Campbell]

The male Blackcap in my garden has now got a female companion.

[mark smyth]

I havent seen any blackcaps this winter.

[TC]

Maggi
Your birds are almost certainly male Bramblings.  They are closely associated to Chaffinches and often form winter flocks with them to feed on beech mast.  I have not seen any this winter or have even heard of reports of them.  Lucky you !

[Maggi Young]

 We do have occasional Bramblings here and also in my friend's garden, so he knows what they look like.... they weren't like anything he'd seen before, which lets the Bullfinches, Bramblings and Linnets out of the picture.

His wife found a photo of Redstarts in a book, which showed a  migratory variation which was much blacker ( which is where I think I picked up the Black Restart name!) and they looked pretty close, he thought.

I've emailed him the Stonechat  suggestion, but I haven't heard back yet.

[mark smyth]

I have yet to see more than a pair of stonechats in one place. They act like robins, sitting on a perch and flying to the ground for food, so are unlikley to be seen flying over a garden. Only males have an orange breast but it is mostly missing in the winter.

[Maggi Young]

These birds were in a group of about five or six,  keeping close together, sitting in bushes on a golf course.
 All very dark, black-looking backs and very red breasts and underparts. Approx. chaffinch sized.

Chum has just got back to me.... reckons they probably were Stonechats ...... very unusual for us to have these about here.

[mark smyth]

female stonechat
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=189612&r=0&st=0&q=
male stonechat
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=189523&r=0&st=0&q=
brambling male
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=191274&r=0&st=0&q=
brambling female
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=191288&r=0&st=0&q=
linnet female
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=191052&r=0&st=0&q=
linnet male
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=174628&r=0&st=0&q=
twite
http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?v=1&f=189957&r=0&st=0&q=

[mark smyth]

chaffinch size rules out chats but points to bramblings. Did they fly? Any contact calls?

[Maggi Young]

chaffinch size rules out chats but points to bramblings. Did they fly? Any contact calls?

 Mark, I haven't any more info. 

[Roma]

Changing the subject a bit.  I have been quite envious of you people seeing waxwings and thought I was unlikely to see any as there are no berries near my house except Cotoneaster simsii which is unattractive to birds. This afternoon about quarter to four my husband and I were off to move the ponies.  As w crossed the road I noticed some birds on a sycamore tree.  There were 14 waxwings sitting huddled up on the tree.  It was very dull and if I hadn't been able to see their crests I might not have been so sure of their identity.  They were gone by the time we came back so I hope they found a sheltered spot for the  night. 

[mark smyth]

Last week I went to see 300 feeding on Cotoneaster cornubia in Belfast

[TC]

Maggi

I thought that the birds had been seen in a garden -hence Brambling.  As they were seen on a golf course, then they would be Stonechats.  In Ayrshire they are common all the year round living on the golf courses and among the rough grass on the beaches.  On my local beach at Greenan I can see two pairs on almost any day of the year. 

Stonechat male