Gould observed 'Although the Mealy Redpole is very numerous in our islands, it must be regarded as but an occasional winter visitor. The irregularity in the visits ...cannot, of course, be accounted for; all we know is that the bird is ever plentiful in the north of Europe.' Gould and Wolf saw redpolls breeding at Dovrefjeld, Norway, during the summer of 1856.

On an alder branch two males (above) are depicted in summer plumage 'when the rosy tints of its breast are most beautiful, and the further you proceed north the finer and brighter do they appear to be'. The paler female (below) 'has no trace of rose-red on the breasts and flanks'.

DISTRIBUTION: Holarctic breeding across northern Eurasia and North America, between 75°N and 45°N. Winters in southern parts of breeding range and into south-central Europe, Turkestan, Japan and the northern United States