You may remember my blog about Redwings in my garden during  the past two winters and that , of the gang of four, there was one who stayed in my garden all the time for over four weeks or so of the two bad winters while the other three went off in the afternoons and returned next day.The little "loner"  became quite tame, sitting looking up at my window  from directly beneath, expecting food.
Well.
I was having a cup of coffee in the garden recently when I saw two blackbirds fighting and chasing. I thought what a waste of energy this was at this time of year  when I saw that one of the "blackbirds" was much smaller than the other and - oh, hey, was actually a Redwing and was now hopping  towards me. It stopped about 4 metres away and stood looking at me for a few seconds before flying off into the bushes. It  looked decidedly scruffy as though in moult or recovering from parenthood.
It's very tempting to think that this was "my" Redwing"  But really, it is a very definite possibility. Redwings have traditionally bred in Scandinavia and usually  overwintered  but didn't  breed here . However, this is changing a bit  The records of breeding redwings in this country show that, over the past few decades, small  populations have become distributed in and north of the Great Glen , populations in Orkney and Shetland., and about nine records of single nests very randomly distributed in  East Dumbartonshire  and North& South Lanarkshire. The reason for this original colonisation and spread started  possibly because of strong winds preventing some of the birds getting back to their breeding grounds and simply staying here - hence the largest populations in the north of Scotland .
The big question is, what was he/she doing in my garden on 15th July?   I would love to hear from anyone round about Kirkintilloch who has seen Redwings this summer or knows where there may be a nest. Or indeed anyone who knows more about these charming birds.