Throughout the year, Britain has three common species of thrush, the Blackbird, the Mistle Thrush ans the Song Thrush.
In the winter months, these birds will stay in Britain where pairs and family groups will set up a territory around a fruiting berry tree. They will defend their home fiercely over the next few months, ensuring they have enough to see them through winter. Our thrushes always have light brown backs with a speckled stomach.
But their relatives in Northern Europe have a harder decision to make. Their home is going to get much colder than here and there will be less food. So every year, thousands of birds choose to flock to Britain for the winter. Among them are two familiar looking birds with a bit of a difference. They are both relatives of our thrushes and can be seen now across the country.
Redwing
The Redwing is Britain’s smallest species of Thrush. They usually travel in small flocks and from arriving on the East coast will travel Southwards, stopping on berry trees along the way. You can identify the Redwing by looking for:
- A small body
- Red colouration under the wings
- A white stripe above the eye
Fieldfare
The Fieldfare is larger than the Redwing and can also be seen travelling around our countryside in large flocks. They can often be spotted in open fields in farmland and uplands. Watch out for:
- White and brown specks on chest
- Reddish-brown chest colouration
- Slate-blue head and tail feathers
- Dark red wing feathers
Both of these species love Rowan and other berry trees. Have you seen any Redwings or Fieldfare’s so far? If you have we’d like to hear from you!
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Very windy walk on Winterton beach, Norfolk, today (October 5.) In a 1 and 1/2 mile stretch we found the partly eaten bodies of four robin sized birds on the shore line. Only the last remains had enough detail for possible identification viz. – dark brown back, head, wings and shortish tail, reddish passerine legs and feet, brown and reddish thrush-like beak. Bronze underwing near to the body and white breast with large dark speckles. Possibly redwing? Seagulls were eating the remains of another.
Hi Jane. Difficult to tell from the remains – as gruesome as it is did you get a picture. The biggest thing that suggests it isn’t a redwing is that it should have a orange/red colour under the wing. If it doesn’t have that it may be something else.
There are two large Pyracantha bushes at least 8/9 feet high growing up the front of my house and my neighbours. On Friday I witnessed something I have never ever seen before. About 10 or 20 maybe more birds queuing up on another tree sometimes fighting to get to the berries, some sitting on snow covered bushes waiting their turn. These were not the normal blackbirds and sometimes pigeons who come to the bushes but more like the Fieldfares described here. My youngest cat Daisy was mesmerised sitting like a statue until she suddenly launched herself at the window and ended up hanging from my nets! I would have loved to have gotten a photo but even as I very quietly opened the front door they flew away coming back to finish their feast when I had gone back indoors. This morning when I looked there is not one berry left on the bushes! I live about 10min walk from a large park would they have done the same there or would the crows have frightened them away?
Hi Angela, Sounds like you certainly had some very protective thrushes. They were most likely mistle thrushes or fieldfare – the two larger species. Once a food source runs out on one tree the will move to others and as you saw they aren’t shy, so crows shouldn’t be a problem.
RUss