One of my favourite seasonal highlights is the arrival of the migratory thrushes. As their food sources dwindle, redwings and fieldfares set off on their journey from Scandinavia, Iceland and northern Europe to spend a milder winter in the UK. 

This is a significant influx of birds with around 1.4 million birds arriving, even more during particularly harsh winters or if food is scarce in their northern breeding grounds.

In our garden, we have a popular member of the thrush family, the blackbird, throughout the year, with at least one breeding pair this year.  However, to see fieldfares and redwings we need to take a short walk to nearby fields which have a woodland edge. I feel very fortunate to have this on my doorstep as it’s also a good spot to hear and, sometimes, see song thrushes. A birdsong ID app, such as Merlin, is always handy if you’re spotting different species of thrushes at a distance.

Identifying fieldfares and redwings

Redwings and fieldfares will often flock together, which is great for comparing the two side by side (but the flocks can be very busy!). 

Incidentally, the collective noun for a flock of thrushes is the very peculiar ‘mutation’ of thrushes. In folklore, it was thought that during the annual feather moult the birds also shed their legs and grew new ones. 

Redwings are one of the smaller thrushes, even smaller than a blackbird, whereas fieldfares are much larger. In addition, redwings have bold cream eye stripes and distinctive orange-red flanks, which appear to flash brightly as they flit between branches or feeding spots. Their call is a high-pitched, ‘seep-seep’.

Fieldfares are larger birds with striking patterns of grey on the head and rump, chestnut-brown on the back and speckled breast. Fieldfares are sociable, often seen in noisy flocks, and their call is a ‘chack-chack’.

A bountiful larder for winter thrushes?

With a very dry spring and summer this year, many of us saw early crops of berries and fruits, which prompted concern that supplies would be exhausted when we reached winter. In our garden, we’ve had an incredible crop of apples and there are still lots on the tree and on the ground. We usually leave a few on the ground especially for the blackbirds. 

Our two rowan trees are also bowed over with a bumper crop of berries, so I’m hopeful that the winter supply may be ok. Perhaps we’ll finally see a redwing or fieldfare in the garden?

In our nearby woodland, there are also still good crops of haws or berries on the hawthorn trees and a huge number of acorns, but the blackberries have now gone. 

Thrushes and seed dispersal

While enjoying their winter diet of berries and fruits, fieldfares and redwings carry out an important role in dispersing seeds for the future. The fleshy parts of the berries are digested but seeds pass through their digestive tract and, as the birds travel looking for food, they disperse the seeds over large areas. This process, along with some natural fertiliser in their droppings, helps the seeds to germinate in the spring.

Helping winter thrushes

A good supply of autumn and winter berries and fruits is ideal for thrushes. If you are thinking of planting for wildlife, choose species that produce berries during the colder months. When tidying your garden or community green space in autumn, leave fruits and berries if possible and don’t forget to provide some water too.

Find out more about thrushes