The common lime is Britain's tallest broad-leaved tree and the specimen seventy metres away from my garden is no exception, being indeed the loftiest tree in the vicinity.

I wrote recently how the lime is used by goldfinches but I call it the 'redwing tree' being a favoured lookout post for our winter visitors from Scandinavia.

As the gales finally eased after each of our Christmas and new year storms created havoc, large flocks of redwings appeared, the most I've seen in years.

Inclement weather is the signal for redwings to move in from grassland to forage in our gardens for ivy and pyracantha berries.

In fact the low pressure system causing the first storm was the lowest recorded for over a hundred years and coming as they did on the shortest days of the year leaves birds less time to search for food especially as rain and gale force winds restrict flight.

The birds in the 'redwing tree' congregated in the upper branches from where little parties suddenly broke away to swoop down or zoom off and feed in nearby gardens.

Redwings utter a thin 'seep-seep' call, seemingly the limit of their vocabulary unlike their cousin the songthrush.

But what they lack in vocalisation they more than make up for in their attractive plumage. When flying in large flocks they somewhat resemble starlings and can be mistaken for them at first glance.

Then on January 2 the redwings vanished. Probably they had exhausted the berry crops in local gardens and moved on or perhaps they flew even further south.

Certainly my bountiful pyracantha bush has now been stripped bare, but mainly by blackbirds.