A crash landing

The redwing Turdus iliacus is the UK's smallest true thrush. Every Autumn some 700,000 of them arrive from their breeding grounds in Europe and Iceland. They spend the winter with us roaming across the countryside, feeding on worms and berries in the fields and hedgerows, often in the company 0f flocks of fieldfares.

Redwings are night-time migrants and this unfortunate individual probably made land fall early this morning after a night-crossing of the North Sea. Its visit to Scotland was, sadly, to be short-lived.

The wonders of migration and navigation never cease to amaze.