Last autumn the family spotted a bird the size and colour of a male blackbird but with red legs, and white speckled plummage on it's back, as if it had been splattered with emulsion. We have not been able to identify it in any books, and we have tried asking the local rangers. We spotted this bird again on the 19th of April, unfortunately it is always in the same place, a grass verge on a single track blind bend - not the ideal place to stop and take pictures. Any thoughts?
Could this have been what you saw?
http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=fieldfare+bird&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=er3RS_T7BMvI_gaImbHLDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CB4QsAQwAw
Cheers
AL
If its no fun Yer no doin it right!
I'm afraid not, but thank you for helping. Fieldfares used to be regular visitors to our part of the world but know we just see the odd one or two instead of the flocks of five years ago. This bird we spotted was actually black, with white streaks on it's back, just as if it had been in the way of a brush flicking emulsion off it. It looked to be well fed and when it hopped you caught a glimpse of scarlet legs. The local rangers suggested it might be a migrant blown off course, if so it's survived the winter quite well. Could it be an escaped caged bird?