Redwing photographed at Pleinmont on 28/10/2009 Photo: © Paul Hillion (visit site)

Little information is available on the previous status of this species but it seems to have changed little. Smith reports it to be a numerous winter visitor arriving at about the end of October and those that were not shot and taken to market left in March or April. Brock mentions that large numbers arrived in Guernsey during the cold spell of 1947.

The Redwing is a common passage migrant to all the islands generally appearing in the second week of October. Dates of first sightings range from 29 September to 29 October with a mean first date of 10 October. Passage is unpredictable and depends very much on weather conditions. Many birds pass over the islands at night, flying southwards to wintering areas in Iberia and North Africa. Occasional large falls occur such as 250+ on 20/11/83 at Pleinmont and 200 at Kings Mills on 2/11/86, 200 Rue des Pres, St Peter 9/10/90 and visible migration can be seen on occasion during the day, 5,350 east over La Porte on 31/10/76 being exceptional (GBN).

Large numbers are usually found as part of cold weather movements. The number of wintering birds varies widely and in some years only tens of birds are recorded between December and January. In most years numbers the 'on the ground' peak occurs in late January and early February. Large movements occur generally in January with migrants from Britain and the continent being forced south due to harsh weather to the north or east of the Bailiwick. Flocks in the region of 200+ are not uncommon. Large numbers of Redwing appeared in the following years: 1972 with a flock of 400 in Saumarez Park on 28 January, in 1974 with 300+ in St Martin during February, in January 1979 when large flocks were reported island-wide, in 1985 with 500 at L'Eree on the 26th and 27th January, in 1987 with 250 at L'Eree on 15th January and hundreds were reported moving into the islands between the 8th and 15th January 1991. By far the largest influx occurred in February 1982 with thousands moving through Guernsey with hundreds of thousands of Fieldfare.

Most of the winter visitors leave by the last week in March and from then on small numbers of migrants from further south move through the islands until the first week in May. On some occasions there have been no records in April as all the winter visitors have left but several birds are seen in May. The mean last date for Redwing is 15th April.

The majority of ringing recoveries come from birds ringed in October in the Bailiwick and which were shot in France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, either during winter or still on passage. All recoveries of Bailiwick birds in winter come from hunters in Portugal showing this is an area where a large number of our passage birds winter. There have been recoveries of birds being picked up dead in winter which gives an idea as to the migration route taken by the birds wintering in Guernsey. Birds that were ringed on passage in Belgium, England, Netherlands and Norway have all been found in Guernsey. This suggests that the flocks of Redwings seen in Guernsey in winter pass through Scandinavia, eastern England and the Low Countries before arriving here. There has been one instance of a bird changing wintering areas, that of a bird ringed in Essex in January and recovered in Guernsey the following January.