Walking to work this morning I saw what I thought was a large thrush from the back, but then I glimpsed a large red chest, so I took a double take - certainly nothing that I'd seen before. It had a clear dash of white under its eye, a dark head, and was on frosted grass beside a suburban road in Leeds, West Yorkshire. I am very far from a bird expert, but having been looking at pictures of red breasted birds, it absolutely looks like an American Robin - except that the white dash under the eye was a straight line, whereas in pictures it seems curved; and I didn't notice white above the eye. What else might it have been? I understand that American Robins are extremely rare in the UK, though not unknown, so it's far more likely to have been something else. Any ideas?
Having just googled a picture of an American robin, the bird that springs to mind when it comes to looks would be a brambling. But those are a bit smaller than thrush sized. I'm south of you, in Sheffield, and there are TONS of them around this winter.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can