Within Pembrokeshire lesser redpoll is a fairly scarce breeding bird with a restricted distribution centred around Mynydd Preseli in the NE of the county. It breeds in gorse, birch, and willow scrub as well as in conifer plantations, especially in re-planted areas at 5 to 15 years following clear felling. The ringing site at Ty Rhyg ticks this last box, and just over 300 redpolls have been caught and ringed there during the breeding season, May to September, since 2008. By November, they are noticably scarce at the site, and they are usually then absent until April.Surprisingly for a small species, redpoll has quite a high recapture rate, and there have been seven instances of birds caught by ringers elsewhere:
The only spring recovery is of Y741881 recorded at Bardsey on 23/4/2014. This same individual was also caught again in Cambridgeshire on 19/12/2017, and like the others, shows an easterly bias in period October to February.
Looking back at previous species accounts of redpoll in Pembrokeshire, the breeding status has remained broadly similar since the days of Matthew in 1894, i.e. a scarce breeding species predominantly in the Preseli area. In winter, the picture is less clear and it seems to have been scarce in most years with occasional invasions, such as one in 1990/91 (Donovan and Rees 1994). Some of the Ty rhyg birds were re-caught in gardens, so at least some are making use of garden feeders where they are attracted to nyger seed. The use of gardens by redpolls is a very recent trend, apparently since 2008, (BTO website).
