Visitors from the north

Fieldfares have now been recorded again at Filnore Woods. 

 

 

 

 I last mentioned them in my post for November 5th last year.  You may have heard the "chack, chack" squawks of them in your garden if you have left fallen apples on the ground.  They come to us every winter from Scandinavia and northern Europe. 

 

 Fieldfare

 

Fieldfares are large grey thrushes with long tails and they will sometimes be  feasting in flocks on berries, in the company of the smaller and slightly shyer Redwings, another Scandinavian thrush species, which, as you may have guessed, have reddish-brown patches on their flanks and under their wings . 

Redwing

 

I often think Fieldfares look rather more severe than redwings.  It must be that dark patch around the eye.  Redwings have a white eyebrow stripe and another stripe across the cheek.

 

To hear their calls listen on 'Brett Westwood's Birdsong Recordings'.  There is a link on the right of the blog page, below the blog archive,  headed <Helpful links>.