Unbelievable Redwing roost caught on camera
An incredible roost of Redwings has been found in Lancashire, with at least 22,100 birds using the site.
On Monday 4 November myself and my work colleague, Kris McBride, took a rather later than usual lunchtime stroll from the Birdquest office up to Longridge Fell. Grim rainy weather had postponed our exercise, and so by chance we were walking back down just before dusk …
This, however, happened to coincide with a number of Redwing arriving at the fell. As we walked down, flushing hundreds from the bracken beside the track, we realized many more were still arriving, and indeed by the time we got back to the office we reckoned we had seen several thousand, which seemed unusual.
At first, I thought they may have been newly arrived birds that had been grounded by the rain. However, the following evening, we peered out from the office at about 4.15 pm to see thousands passing overhead, establishing the fact that it had not been a one off. I put the news out to local birders as it was really quite an impressive sight.
The following day we attempted a count from the office. With Mike Watson scribing and three spotters, we tallied just over 8,000, while Margaret Breaks (counting from the car park above us) logged more than 10,000!
Since that first count, which really established the magnitude of the event, it has become a nightly phenomenon. The count on 13 November was the largest to date at an estimated 22,100, though it has to be said, they are not easy to count and there may well be more! For around fifteen minutes there were continual streams of birds arriving, and at times they were going through at more than 1,000 per minute.
Each evening one or two high speed and extremely agile Peregrine Falcons, as well as the local Eurasian Sparrowhawks, have taken advantage, knocking off a Redwing for supper. For those that stay late, as many as 10 Eurasian Woodcocks have been observed from the same spot. On the fell, 15 or more Crossbills are regularly to be found too.
In many ways, this amazing spectacle has raised more questions than answers. Firstly, how long have Redwings been roosting communally on Longridge Fell? Could they really have been doing this under our noses without us noticing before (which is possible, as we’re usually chained to our desks at this time)? Is this winter exceptional and how long will they stay for? Are there other equivalent roosts elsewhere in the UK? What’s the biggest recorded Redwing roost in the UK?
If anyone has information relating to these questions, we’d be interested to know. For anyone interested, the roost is still very active as of today and is best observed from the small car park at 53.860184, -2.475265. If you have a spare hour it is worth visiting as it’s quite a spectacle!
