RSPB website identifies birds
Unfortunately your correspondent Pam Snelgar has incorrectly identified the bird in her photo, which appeared under ‘Wildlife’ on page 21 of the February 7 edition of the County Times (Horsham district).
This bird is not a redwing, but a fieldfare, whose distinguishing features are a grey head, grey patch on the lower back and a black tail.
The redwing is a close relative of the fieldfare, but is clearly distinguishable from it because it has a brown head, brown back and tail, and rust-red patches - not, curiously enough, on its wings, but just beneath them on the sides of the breast.
Should you wish to check, I recommend looking at the illustrations of the fieldfare and redwing at www.rspb.org.uk , which confirm my identification of the bird concerned.
MARK SMEE
Caterways, Horsham