(turdus iliacus)
The Redwing is a member of the Thrush family. It is mainly a winter visitor to Scotland usually arriving in large noisy flocks from mid October onwards. These flocks roam around hoovering up berries, especially rowan berries in early winter. The Redwing is a very rare breeder in Scotland with numbers currently estimated at 40-80 pairs with breeding mostly confined to the far north of Scotland.
There are two sub species, namely the nominate turdus iliacus iliacus breeding mostly in Scandinavia and Russia and turdus iliacus coburni breeding only in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Unfortunately the two sub species are not distinguishable in the field.