Fieldfare

Winter arrival

Fieldfares are among the most conspicuous of Britain’s autumn and winter visitors. Large flocks arrive from October onwards, filling the air with their harsh, chattering calls as they sweep over hedgerows. Numbers can be dramatic: tens of thousands arrive in good years, particularly in cold winters when Eastern European populations push west. They often travel and feed alongside redwings in mixed thrush flocks.

Berry and worm feeders

Fieldfares gorge on hawthorn berries, holly, ivy, and windfall apples in early winter. A flock can strip a hedgerow of berries in hours. When berry crops are exhausted they switch to earthworms in pasture fields, often congregating in large groups on frost-free days. They are aggressive at feeding sites, displacing smaller thrushes and blackbirds.

Colonial breeding

Unlike most thrushes, fieldfares breed colonially — small to medium-sized colonies in Scandinavia, often in birch or spruce forest. Colonies defend themselves against corvid predators by dive-bombing intruders and defecating on them (a behaviour that can damage feathers and reduce thermoregulation in targeted predators).

Rare British breeder

A handful of fieldfares attempt to breed in northern Britain most years, but established breeding colonies remain extremely rare and erratic. The species is thought to be at the southern edge of its breeding range in Scotland.