Breeding birds: 1 – 2 pairs
Wintering birds: 720,000
Family: Thrushes
Fieldfares have a chestnut mantle, back and scapulars with some feathers having paler edges. The rump and upperstail coverts and grey and the uppertail is dark brown or black, and the flight feathers are black with lighter edges.
The underparts are mostly white but the breast has an orange wash with conspicuous black streaks. The flanks are pale buff with black spots, and the underwing coverts are white.
On the head, fieldfares are slate-grey from the forehead to the nape with fine black streaks. The lores, cheeks, malar and neck patches are black and they have a white supercilium. The chin is white with a pale orange was and thin black streaks. They have a yellow bill with a black tip, the eyes are dark brown surrounded by a feathered white eye-ring, and the legs and feet are dark brown.
Male and female fieldfares are similar but the female has less streaking on the crown the orange parts are duller and the tail is browner. The pattern on the flanks is less distinct and the bill is a duller yellow.
Juveniles resemble adults but are more uniform grey on the upperparts and they have buff streaks on the scapulars. On the underparts they have spots or chevrons instead of streaks which are darker.
Fieldfares breed between early April and late August. They nest in loose colonies of anything from 5 to 50 pairs, and although they nest in trees but there will rarely be more than 2 nests in a tree. They will also nest in gardens, hedgerows, or on the ground.
Fieldfares build cup-shaped, bulky nests made from grass, twigs, leaves, and roots, bound together with mud, and lined with fine grass and horsehair.
They lay 3-7 smooth, glossy, pale or bright blue eggs with brown or reddish-coloured marks which are incubated by the female alone for 10-14 days. Chicks fledge 12-15 days after hatching but still rely on their parents for food for another 2 weeks.
Fieldfares feed on insects such as ants, beetles, crickets, and flies, as well as spiders, worms, and snails. They also eat plant matter including berries, seeds, grain, and fruit, particularly windfalls.
Fieldfares begin to arrive in the UK in October and start to leave again in March. although you may still see some as late as May.
Look out for them in the countryside and open fields and beside hedges, particularly hawthorn. In late winter they can be spotted on grass fields and playing fields and when it is very cold or snow covers the ground they will come into gardens.
Fieldfares will dive-bomb predators who try and approach their nest firing poo at them to keep them away.
