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I needed to get some groceries but was reluctant to use the car yesterday, so I walked to the local supermarket, limited myself to a hand basket so that I could carry my groceries home. On the way there were two small trees bearing lots of berries which I noticed were being pigged out on by a dozen fieldfares. These are winter thrushes that are often not seen in this part of the world at all during mild winters but appear in large numbers in hard winters. And I don't need to remind anyone which this one is!
Fieldfares will strip a tree of its berries in a few days and quickly move on, so when the clouds cleared this morning I wasted no time and went back with the camera. And boy was I rewarded! This has been the most enigmatic of bird species for me for years, only previously managing to get distant fuzzy shots. Even better, they were joined by their often companions, redwings.
But this location was busy; it was on a bus route and there were lots of walkers as well as traffic, but I found that if I kept still they would ignore me and paid more attention to the people passing by, enabling me to snap away from about 20 feet away. And believe me, fieldfares don't usually tolerate 20 feet! I got shot after shot and was getting the early stages of frostbite in my shutter finger before I finally called it a day.
Brilliant!
And this is a redwing, snapped at the same time.
Those were worth waiting (and suffering) for!  :thumbs

And well done for getting them to pose with a berry in their beaks :)
So something is benefiting from all this dreadful snow then.
And note the benefits of not travelling in cars. It is not all bad asthma from the fumes and panic attacks from nearly being run over is it.

The little birds and the red berries look lovely.  :)

Had they or someone managed to shake most of the snow off the berry trees, or is the snow not so deep down there. Our bushes and trees are still covered in what seems like a foot of snow.  

It is good the the berries are getting used, I see bushes on an industrial estate and never any birds it seems such a waste. Do you think the reduction in traffic has also helped bring the birds out.
Had they or someone managed to shake most of the snow off the berry trees, or is the snow not so deep down there. Our bushes and trees are still covered in what seems like a foot of snow.


Redwings are a similar size to a blackbird, and fieldfares are a little larger, meaning that as they hop around the trees they are heavy enough to dislodge the snow. We probably had less snow here than you did as well.

Do you think the reduction in traffic has also helped bring the birds out.


Not really. There's still plenty of traffic along that route. It's the hard winter that brings them in from the countryside.
Lovely pics Eccles and no, me and Sister Claire does not want to eat the Birds.
Stunning pictures.  Prizewinners, surely - ideal for a Christmas card or nature calendar.  Just beautiful!   :thumbs  :clap  :clap2



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