The UK is home to several species of thrushes that frequently visit gardens, including two that arrive during winter. You can encourage them into your garden by providing a variety of food and suitable shelter.
The blackbird is the most common thrush to visit gardens. In the wild, it inhabits deciduous woodlands with dense undergrowth, but it thrives in gardens with abundant food supplies. In fact, British gardens now support more breeding pairs of blackbirds than woodlands. Blackbirds are highly territorial, so you’re unlikely to see more than one male and one female in your garden at the same time. On warm spring and summer evenings, it’s common to hear a male blackbird singing his rich and varied song for hours as he tries to attract a mate.
Another thrush often seen in gardens is the song thrush. Like the blackbird, it has a distinctive song, characterised by repeated musical phrases. Song thrushes typically live in woodlands or farmland with plenty of trees and bushes but will visit gardens in search of food.
Mistle thrushes, the larger cousins of the song thrush, are much less likely to visit gardens. However, you may see them in winter when their natural sources of food are scarce.
Thrushes are softbills, meaning their beaks are not adapted for cracking hard seeds or piercing the tough outer layers of husks and grains. As a result, they are unlikely to eat many of the typical bird seed mixes or nuts you might put out for other garden birds.
Thrushes also prefer feeding from the ground so won’t use hanging feeders, though they may feed from a bird table. For this reason, it’s best to offer food directly on the ground or use a ground feeding tray. Ground feeders with roofs can help keep the food fresh and dry, and if you’re concerned about cats or other predators ambushing the birds as they feed, you can purchase special cages to cover the feeders and keep the birds safe.
Blackbirds and song thrushes primarily feed on insects, and you can replicate their natural diet by offering mealworms. Dried mealworms soaked in water overnight work well, but if you’re not squeamish, live mealworms make an even tastier treat. Mealworms can be fed to birds year-round, but if you’re placing them on the ground, be cautious if hedgehogs visit your garden, as mealworms can be harmful to them.
You can serve mealworms on their own or mix them with kitchen scraps. Thrushes particularly enjoy mild grated cheese, small pieces of unsalted bacon, and dried fruits like raisins or sultanas. Thrushes are also very fond of fresh fruit. Try offering chopped apple or soft fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, or bananas, and watch them tuck in.
While thrushes won’t eat large, hard seeds and nuts, they do enjoy smaller seeds like flaked maize, millet, and rapeseed, as well as husk-free seeds such as sunflower hearts. Specially formulated bird food for softbills, often marketed as ground and table mixes, is also a good choice. Additionally, “no grow” bird seed mixes, which have had the hard husk removed, are usually suitable for thrushes.
Earthworms are a favourite food of blackbirds, and it’s not uncommon to see a blackbird hopping across a lawn in search of one. Worms are also highly beneficial for gardens, as their burrowing aerates the soil, improving oxygen flow and drainage. They also consume plant debris and decaying matter, releasing nutrients into the soil and keeping it naturally fertilised.
To encourage worms in your garden, keep your soil well-watered and use mulches to retain moisture. Adding peat-free compost or vegetable peelings can also help create a worm-friendly environment.
Letting your lawn grow a little longer is better for worms. When you do mow, leave the grass clippings where they fall to return nutrients to the soil and provide food for worms.
Song thrushes also enjoy eating worms, but during times when worms are scarce, such as in summer droughts, when they retreat deeper into the soil, song thrushes turn to other food like snails and slugs. Thrushes are known to smash snail shells against hard surfaces to get to the soft body inside. Avoid using slug pellets to keep your garden wildlife-friendly, and you might even attract a hedgehog as an added bonus!
Planting flowers and plants that attract pollinators and other insects is another great way to provide natural food for thrushes. You can further enhance your garden’s biodiversity by leaving a pile of decaying wood or adding a bug hotel or butterfly house.
In winter, colourful redwings and fieldfares arrive in the UK from their Scandinavian breeding grounds. They typically forage in the countryside, searching for berries in hedgerows. However, during periods of extreme cold or snow, they may struggle to find enough natural food and are more likely to visit gardens.
Redwings and fieldfares share a similar diet to other UK thrushes, so leaving out mealworms and fruit is a great way to attract them. If you have windfall apples in your garden, leave those out as well – they make a perfect winter treat.
During the colder months, when it’s vital for birds to maintain their energy levels, fat-based foods provide a rich and nutritious snack. Fat balls, suet cakes, and pellets are all soft enough for these birds to eat with their beaks. Just be mindful of freezing temperatures and offer small amounts at a time to prevent the food from becoming too hard.
When insects are less abundant in winter, thrushes often rely on berries as a key food source. Native trees and shrubs such as rowan, hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, and ivy are excellent choices, while non-native varieties like cotoneaster, pyracantha, and barberries also make great additions to a bird-friendly garden.
Blackbirds readily nest in gardens, and song thrushes occasionally do as well. Mistle thrushes may nest in gardens too, but they usually prefer woodlands and parks.
Thrushes build their nests low to the ground in thick vegetation. Mature climbers like honeysuckle and ivy, along with dense shrubs and trees, provide excellent nesting spots in your garden. Blackbirds and thrushes have also been known to use outbuildings or unusual places such as plant pots, hanging baskets, or even compost bins.
During the breeding season, avoid trimming hedges, cutting back shrubs, or felling trees to protect nesting birds, their chicks, and eggs. If you discover a thrush’s nest in your garden, try not to disturb it and, if possible, keep cats indoors to reduce the risk of harm.
Blackbirds may also use open-fronted nest boxes that mimic their natural nesting sites. To encourage use, place the box in a concealed area to provide shelter from bad weather and create a shaded spot during summer.
