I had dreamed of a Waxwing; I had hoped for a Blackcap. But I was more than pleased that my surprise visitor to the garden this weekend was Mavis!
Here she is, looking very neatly turned out indeed. Note how the spots are really like chevrons, and how the upper breast has got a subtle but distinctive yellow wash to it, unlike the round spots and cold white background on the bulkier Mistle Thrush.
Quite why Chaucer should call the Song Thrush 'Mavis' I'm afraid I don't know (but am happy to be told!). But of course what is well known is the calamitous decline in numbers over the last 25 years or so. The 2010 State of the UK Birds report shows that for every Song Thrush out there in 1970, there is just one now.
This isn't one of those birds like your White-tailed Eagles or Avocets which are so rare that nature reserves can turn their fortunes around. No, this is a creature of the wider countryside, relying on the overall health of environment to maintain its populations.
And as hedges have been lost, grasslands ploughed, and many arable farms have become more intensively managed*, so the Song Thrush has struggled to find enough food to raise enough chicks. (*This is no finger-wagging at farmers - these changes to the countryside come from market forces and political incentives, and all of us as consumers and voters are bound up in the problem).
What is significant for us as gardeners is that today a huge proportion of the remaining Song Thrushes are found in gardens. What we collectively do can help make or break them.
This weekend, it was some spilt sunflower seed that was helping the one in my garden. But the key is to provide all their Home Needs at all seasons. They need moist soil, leaf litter, mulches, and lawns that haven't seen chemicals so they can find enough worms and beetles. And they need dense shrubberies and trees where they can find berries, nest sites, song perches and caterpillars.
And among the many rewards you'll get? Daily serenading by surely one of the finest singers out there.
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Hi Wildlife Friendly
Three other giveaways to look for on your thrush, just to check. Mistle (which is by far the rarer in gardens and likes big open lawns) has
* two thin white wing bars across its wings
* white underwings, rather than Song's buff (apparent when it flies, which for Mistle is a bounding flight)
* but call and song are big clues. 'Football rattle' call in Mistle; simple 'tik' in Song Thrush. And song is mournful and varied from Mistle (usually from top of a high tree), but the Song always sings a phrase and then can't help but proudly repeat it, often several times, before thinking of another.
After reading your blog I had a good look at our thrush, it’s a Mistle thrush. One turns up at the feeders at about this time every year, in the spring its mate arrives, they nest in the same place, raise their family and disappear into the garden until the following winter.
We did have a visit from a Blackcap, again, one always turns up at this time of the year but disappears again in the spring. One year we’re hoping a mate will come along and they will stay and breed.
Build it and they will come.