Author Topic: Fieldfare... (Read 4450 times)

andyoxon · « **on:** 10 February, 2012, 08:44:56 am »

Anyone seen Fieldfare yet? We've just had around 40-50 in our Cotoneaster waterii eating the berries.

Riggers · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 February, 2012, 08:57:45 am »

No. But recently, we've had 3 Thrushes visiting our cat-infested garden for the first time in possibly 15 years!!! A welcome return. They've been plucking the black berries off an Ivy, as have Blackbirds. And a Blackcap has been flitting around too.

Bledlow · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 February, 2012, 10:00:22 am »

Naah, but had a visit from at least 16 redwings half an hour ago.

Pingu · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 February, 2012, 01:26:08 pm »

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=128.msg1133529#msg1133529

andyoxon · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 February, 2012, 03:39:16 pm »

Quote from: Pingu on 10 February, 2012, 01:26:08 pm

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=128.msg1133529#msg1133529

oops...

Jules · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 February, 2012, 04:13:46 pm »

Don't see what we can't have a dedicated Fieldfare thread - the other's all bunged up with Tawny Owls, buzzards and deer.

There's about 20 in my back garden in Twickenham at the moment eating a lot of berries that other birds haven't bothered to touch.

andyoxon · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 February, 2012, 04:22:34 pm »

Yes, it's quite exciting - we generally don't see that many birds from the Thrush family - apart from the odd blackbird, and very occasion song/mistle t.

Andy

Pingu · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 February, 2012, 05:40:49 pm »

Quote from: andyoxon on 10 February, 2012, 03:39:16 pm

Quote from: Pingu on 10 February, 2012, 01:26:08 pm
http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=128.msg1133529#msg1133529

oops...

I wasn't berating, I just couldn't be arsed typing out our sightings again

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 February, 2012, 05:56:01 pm »

I saw a flat field full of what I think were fieldfares on Thursday.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 February, 2012, 06:57:14 pm »

I'm wondering whether the OP might not be referring to waxwings, which have a greater propensity to descend en mass on cotoneaster berries, at least, in my experience.

Waxwing

Fieldfare

I've seen no waxwings this winter, but every winter I see plenty of fieldfares.

andyoxon · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 February, 2012, 09:37:09 pm »

ah, evidence eh. Taken this am...

Never seen waxwings here.

orienteer · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 February, 2012, 10:33:21 pm »

Strangely we had a large, mixed flock of redwings and fieldfares eating our garden berries today too. Never seen them before, spent some time identifying them and took some pics.

According to the description in the bird directory, they only visit gardens when the weather is harsh.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 February, 2012, 09:28:25 am »

No doubt about those.

I see fieldfares quite often when out cycling in winter. I was very puzzled 2 years ago when we went to Germany with Auntie Helen in the early summer to see what looked very like fieldfares near the Rhine, behaving quite tamely. They were as confident around people as robins seem to be in this country. I checked when I got home: fieldfares are resident in Germany so presumably they keep pretty much the same ones all the year round and they are accustomed to people. Our winter visitors flock here from Siberia so they are not quite so geared to loads of humans and keep their distance.

GruB · « **Reply #13 on:** 11 February, 2012, 10:39:47 am »

Ha, Mrs G was just commenting upon how all the berries in our garden have now been eaten. However, up until yesterday there was a tree in the front garden of her friends house in Woodborough that was still full to over flowing with berries. That was until many Fieldfare descended and demolished the berries in a mass attack. She summed up by saying they must have had a field day.

mattc · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 February, 2012, 11:25:23 am »

Actually we already have a fieldfare thread. It's even an Oxfordshire-based one!
(but it is 2 years old)

Quote from: mattc on 10 January, 2010, 01:03:01 pm

The Oxfordshire Mail published a piccie of a fieldfare in December. They fly in from Scandinavia every year.
Photographer spots winter visitor (From Oxford Mail)

If you want to see how the interweb can provoke angst on absolutely any topic read this "Have your Say":

Firstly how in God's name do you know where it came from - did it have a passport or a bumper sticker on it's butt ?

Secondly these birds are here EVERY year and are not rare so how does this constitute news.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #15 on:** 11 February, 2012, 11:33:04 am »

Saw one on the verge leaving the village yesterday. Haven't seen any in our garden this year though. Mrs Pcolbeck saw a small flock in out garden last year though.

rafletcher · « **Reply #16 on:** 11 February, 2012, 02:34:47 pm »

A beautifule morning, around -8C at 10:00, and we saw 10+ fieldfares and 40-50 lapwings at the end of the lane - on the ploughed earth that the contractors have used to demarcate the "landscaping bund" around the soon to be Arla super-dairy that will occupy that field within a year $:-\$ . No waxwings this year though.

rafletcher · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 February, 2012, 02:02:28 pm »

Better stil, we seem to have a fieldfare in our garden today - it's quite agressive in chasing off the blackbirds, who in turn are chasing off the song thrushes!

Pingu · « **Reply #18 on:** 18 February, 2012, 10:21:51 am »

Four fieldfare in a neighbour's tree this morning.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 February, 2012, 08:27:23 pm »

We think we had one mixed in with the redwings on the school field yesterday.

The long-tailed tits are visiting every day now. They always go round in gangs. The greenfinches have finally got the taste for the new sunflower hearts (after initially eating them much more slowly than the black ones with husks) and we haven't seen any other sick ones. We also had a couple of tree sparrows.

Peter · « **Reply #20 on:** 20 February, 2012, 08:32:59 pm »

RZ, how urban is it where you are? I haven't seen a tree sparrow for ages. We are part of Rochdale but we get some amazing stuff. We had about 14 blackbirds in the garden during the last really hard snow of 2011 and a kestrel took one right under our noses. It stayed for about an hour. Do you fing the long-tail tits pass through very quickly?

rogerzilla · « **Reply #21 on:** 20 February, 2012, 08:36:12 pm »

A village outside Swindon, on a housing estate but backing onto a school field, which of course is deserted in the evenings and at weekends. The long-tailed tits rarely stay more than 5 minutes.

GruB · « **Reply #22 on:** 20 February, 2012, 08:39:44 pm »

But the village is also surrounded by fields.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #23 on:** 20 February, 2012, 08:48:21 pm »

The clue's in the name, eh?

Crumbling Nick · « **Reply #24 on:** 20 February, 2012, 09:33:40 pm »

Yesterday's CTC ride provided a nice view of a mixed flock of fieldfares & redwings foraging in a pasture in rural Warwickshire (just N. of Hay Wood if you know the area). We all stopped to peer through the hedge. It intrigues me that our common thrushes are so recognisable as a family by their behaviour when feeding on open ground. It proved surprisingly difficult to sort out which was which specie without binoculars.

Also had the pleasure of seeing a couple of redwings close up. They were both on roadside verges a mile or 2 from the edges of the conurbation, and very tolerant of an approaching cyclist. I'd seen one in our garden for the first time in this year's RSPB Birdwatch.