Fieldfare    Turdus pilaris

Photo credit: Martin Olsson/GFDL

Size

Length = 22-27m   Wingspan = 39-42cm

Physical description

A member of the thrush family. Russet-brown back, grey nape and crown of head, orange-ochre chest, darkly speckled belly with white below. Rump is grey, best seen in flight. Tail is dark and quite long. Underwing is white (the only other thrush with a white underwing is the mistle thrush, but the fieldfare has a stockier build).

Male and female look similar.

Voice

Call: a loud, chattering ‘chack-chack-chack.

Song: a quiet, chattering, scratchy warble, often given in flight. Difficult to find a structure in it.

Diet

Fallen fruit e.g. apples, pears.

Berries e.g. rowan.

Invertebrates e.g. slugs, earthworms.

Lifespan

Up to 5 years.

Habitat

Spends the winter looking for food in large, open fields and open woodland, and on farmland. Occasionally ventures into gardens, especially if the weather is hard and snow cover makes food difficult to find.

Geographic range

All of the UK during the winter.

Migration

In October fieldfares, and the closely-related redwing, migrate south from Scandanavia to spend the winter here, where conditions are less harsh and food is easier to find.

Around one million birds spend the winter in the UK, making it a common migrant. A very small number of pairs have bred in northern Britain, over a widely distributed area.

Conservation status

Secure.

Related species

Redwing, mistle thrush, song thrush, blackbird.

Where can I see this bird in Northwood / Medham?

Several places. Try the field behind Northwood Garage, between Nodes Road and Newport Road (mind out for traffic); the fields around Medham Farm, particularly the one that sometimes has donkeys in; the field at the top of Pallance Lane, going towards Luton Farm. As fieldfares move around a lot it is worth checking any large field for their presence.

Why is this bird worth seeing?

Migration is not just about the birds who fly here in the spring to breed (as amazing as this phenomenon is (see April’s Bird of the Month, the swallow)). Another set of birds spend the winter in the UK, primarily because food is more readily available. When spring arrives the fieldfare returns to Scandanavia to breed.

The Anglo-Saxon name for this bird is ‘felde fare’ i.e. a traveller over fields. Fieldfares are nomadic: they have no allegiance to a particular location. Contrast this with the swallow, which has an ancestral home, returning there generation after generation. Fieldfares are happy to move about widely in search of food supplies, and may even fly further south to continental Europe if the weather is very cold here.

Fieldfares are gregarious, and a large flock of these noisy, colourful birds, moving past on their way to another source of food, is one of the joys of autumn and winter.

Binoculars needed?

Useful for getting a closer look.