This is the season when, as I drive around east Northants, a small flock of large thrushes will fly out of the roadside trees or be looking for worms in the grass fields. They are chunky and have patches of grey on their heads and backs – and are fieldfares. These thrushes come to see us in the winter, and are often found in mixed flocks with the other winter-arriving thrush, the redwing.
As an undergraduate, I visited southern Norway and saw these birds on their breeding grounds. On the Hardangervidda plateau they nested in loose colonies. In this mostly treeless landscape their nests were on man-made structures such as bridges or atop boulders. Fieldfares don’t act in a very friendly way when you are close to their nests – they dive bomb you and call their harsh ‘chak’ calls. And there is some bombing involved as they aim to splatter you with their faeces – and,as I remember it, they are pretty good at aiming their bombs. Maybe we should call fieldfares the Stuka pilots of the bird world?
But I am grateful to occasional reader of this blog, Professor David Norman, for pointing out to me that fieldfares already have a range of interesting and appropriate names.
In Swedish it is birch thrush (Bjorktrast) and also in old German (Birkendrossel), whereas in German it is juniper thrush (Wacholderdrossel) and in Russian the rowan thrush (drosd-ryabinnik). In Greenland it’s the orpingmiutarssuaq (big bird of the willow scrub) whereas in Danish it is field thrush (Fjeldtrost) and field traveller in Anglo-Saxon (feldefare).
The Norwegian is gratrost (grey thrush) and another old German word is Blauzeimer (blue back).
For its call, in Luxembourg it is Jhackert, claque in Normandy and tordella gazzina (chattering magpie-thrush) colloquially in Italian.
As one of Professor Norman’s favourite birds, he thinks all of these names are trumped by the Spanish: zorzal real – the royal thrush.
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I think that winter thrushes are superb but not normally one to disagree with David Norman I do prefer the more subtle and less beligerent redwing. That eyestripe and colouring have the edge for me.
Bob – thanks. For me, I think it depends, sometimes I am a redwing man and sometimes a fieldfare man. Good job we have both!
Pretty sure I saw some yesterday for the first time ever and they were quite the sight to behold. At first I thought they were redwing, then mistle thrush but once I got on the RSPB site it was pretty clear they were bjorktrast (love that name).
All boisterous and busily going about their business with lots of chipper calling and some pretty fancy flying as they went for berries on branches that couldn’t quite support their weight. Then they went for a good rummage about in the leaf litter in a little patch of hedge/trees that was clear of frost and snow.
Brightened up my Monday morning no end!
Brian – that sounds like them alright. There are often redwings in the same flocks. They are a winter treat.
The Cumbrian dialect name for fieldfare is Felty and in Northumbria Felty is used and also Fendy. Unfortunately not many fieldfares around this part of Cumbria just now, because all of the meagre supply of hedgerow berries have already been eaten. This is because of farming practices which ignore conservation advice with the result that the hedgerows are cut before the bushes are mature enough to bear berries or because berried branches are cut before the migrant thrushes arrive.
I have been attacked in Perthshire, Scotland by breeding fieldfares about 25 years ago and although I have looked at the same area several times since I have never seen them again.
David H – great comment thank you
Last year I got hold of some old apples and using a corer made a neat hole through the middle of each one. I then threaded them on to the branches of a bare shrub. This made for a pretty looking shrub affair and attracted the Fieldfares. A sight to behold in one’s own garden. And it got over the problem of my daft dog eating the apples when I used to just chuck them on the ground!
Gert – that sounds neat.
In late November I was amazed by the huge flocks of Fieldfare on the Somerset Levels – I’d always thought it took really hard weather to push big numbers so far west so was expecting to get home to hear of snow in the east – but the weather went on warm till now, at least 2 weeks later.
Also, I thought Royal in Spanish is actually Real (wouldn’t normally split hairs like that but with the Prof involved…..) and indeed the European breeding Atlas shows it Fieldfare as Zorzal Real – but I’m at one with David that its a great name for a really stunning, exciting bird.
Roderick – thanks. I think you are right about the Spanish so I have changed it after a quick flick through the whole of the world wide web! I’m not sure how between us we let thAt mistake creep in – sorry. But I’m glad the Somerset Levels were full of fieldfares – whatever they are called.
Very surprised when we visited Mull that it would be 16th September we saw 3 Fieldfares near the north coast of Mull,that seemed so early for that far west.
That mistake is amazing Mark,can never remember you making a technical mistake which must be a fabulous record,just hope you realise this is a compliment and not micky taking