A pair of redwings visit the garden

I spent a few minutes outside early this afternoon refilling the bird feeders and generally enjoying a brief burst of sunshine. I could hear the start of springtime bird song from a variety of species dotted about the rear gardens.

I noticed a couple of birds flying onto the topmost branches of the sycamore tree at the bottom of the garden. I wasn't sure what they were but sensed from their slightly larger than average size that they were probably unusual visitors. After a couple of minutes they hadn't flow away so I decided to go inside and fetch my camera. I brought it into the dining room and checking that they hadn't moved I changed my lens to a 100-400mm zoom.

I walked out onto the patio and quickly grabbed a few frames and then re-adjusted my settings. After about a minute I noticed one of them move slightly and prepared for their departure. When that happened I managed to catch one of them in flight although they were blurred. But from the images I got I could see their distinctive body shape and outstretched feather patterns on its wings. They didn't fly far and I could 
see where they landed but the branches of the trees obscured them.

Once I loaded the images into Lightroom and with heavy cropping I could see that they were a pair of redwings. I've never seen them in the garden before but have seen them locally once before a few years ago. I'm very pleased. You might just be able to see a patch of red just below where the wing meets their body and the yellow flash above and below their eyes.