Just the other day I made a concerted effort to go to a networking event which is an unusual thing for me to do but needs must, I guess. In truth, I’m not an overly social being which is quite unlike those nomadic wanderers, Redwings (Turdus iliacus) which always tend to arrive around these parts at this time of the season.
Well, to cut a long-story short, into the wee early hours of Sunday 11th October after the above-mentioned event I heard some Redwing calling (example calls provided by xeno-canto.org) overhead for the first time this Autumn. In reality I cannot be sure how many, probably only just a couple but they’ve arrived, yippee.
You can see from the chart below that their arrival dates in my patch have been very consistent during recent years. As this was also at approximately one o’clock in the morning I feel I did quite well to be so observant at such an hour.
First Redwing of Autumn (locally) as of 2015
Click on the chart image above in order to access the datasets in full screen.
Best Wishes and Happy Redwing hunting amongst a plethora of other Autumnal delights.
UKbirdingtimeline 
Reblogged this on naturestimeline and commented:
UKbirdingtimeline brings you news of some proper “First signs of Autumn”.
Tony, I’m definitely not overly social either. Thankfully, I’m somehow able to identify fellow “kindred spirits” with this tendency on the Internet of all places. 🙂
I may have missed this information on your blog (if it’s stated somewhere) but are there specific species that you’re most interested in? During the holidays, I’m endeavoring to write my first e-book on Pacific Parrotlet behavior (as I share my life with one). She amazes me with her flight maneuverability – incredible rotations and tight U-turns!
Cheers!
~Lynn
Hi Lynn,
Typically my interests lie in trying to understand and get across to the public and more especially to those who work on or own the land, the need to conserve those rarest of species. For instance these could be those red or amber-listed species which sadly now includes a multitude of once common woodland, farmland and even seashore dwelling bird species. There is a lot of progress being made in our understandings as to what is driving these declines and I am especially proud of all the researchers undertaking the ornithological science behind the scenes, your good self included. So, in summary not an easy question to answer but I am motivated towards rarity but not in a twitching sense, rather a conservation sense.
Hi Tony, Good to see you back in this particular dimension of socialising! I believe you’re in good company in not feeling the need to socialise too often. There are a lot of us that are content with our own company as long as we can can get out often into the natural world.Thanks for the heads-up on returning redwings, I’ll be keeping an eye out for them here now, best wishes.