Birds and wildlife

Song Thrush

Turdus philomelosGroup: ThrushesUK Conservation status:Amber

How to identify

A familiar and popular garden songbird whose numbers have declined significantly on farmland and in towns and cities. It's smaller and browner than a Mistle Thrush with smaller spotting. Its habit of repeating song phrases sets it apart from singing Blackbirds. It likes to eat snails, breaking into them by smashing them against a stone with a flick of the head.

Call

Song Thrush

Patrik Åberg / xeno-canto

Key features to look out for

  • Smaller than Blackbird 
  • Warm brown above with speckles on a creamy white breast  
A lone Song Thrush, perched on a flat rock in low, golden sunlight.
Song Thrush
Did you know?

A tell-tale sign of Song Thrush activity is the presence of a favoured ‘anvil’ – a large stone where the bird smashes open the shells of snails to get to the tasty soft body inside!  

Key

  1. Resident
  2. Passage
  3. Summer
  4. Winter
* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

Where best to see them

A Song Thrush singing from a tree.
Song Thrush
How to identify the UK’s thrushes, including two special winter visitors

Get to know the UK’s thrushes, including the Fieldfares and Redwings that flock here for the winter.

Redwings and Fieldfares are both species of thrush and in this feature, we take a look at these and other thrushes that are found in the UK. Read on to find out more about this fascinating family of birds and for ID tips. 

Key facts