Redwing Turdus iliacus
Winter distribution change
Common winter/passage, breeds Iceland/north Europe
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Redwing maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows the changes which occurred in the winter distribution of the species between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, but only in the limited selection of tetrads that were surveyed in winter for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007).
Key
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
134
30%
Present in both
276
62%
Present to absent
15
3%
Not surveyed
Redwings breed right across northern Eurasia, from Iceland to eastern Siberia. Redwings from northern Europe winter in the British Isles and adjacent continental countries from Denmark and Germany, southward to North Africa then eastward through other Mediterranean countries to the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Levant and the southern Caspian region.
Although primarily winter visitors to Great Britain, Redwings were first recorded nesting in Scotland in 1925 and have nested sporadically there ever since, with a maximum of around 300 pairs in 1972 diminishing to between nine and 38 pairs annually in the last decade of the 20th century. Bird Atlas 2007-2011 recorded them present in the breeding season in seven hundred and eighty 10km squares throughout Great Britain from the Shetland Islands to the Scilly Isles, but the great majority of these were late departing migrants recorded in May. The total did however include confirmed or probable breeding in 25 squares and possible breeding in a further 35 in Scotland, plus two more possibles in northern England.
In Wiltshire there was an egregious report from an observer who recorded having shot one of a group of three or four Redwings at an unspecified (but by implication in summer) date between 1868 and 1877and subsequently located a nest with young which were raised to maturity. Otherwise all records in Wiltshire have been in winter, when they are seen throughout the county. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them in 66% of the tetrads surveyed. The more comprehensive surveys carried out for WTA2 found them in 91% of tetrads.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.