I don't know what I saw!

Question

Last week while dropping my mum off, I briefly saw two birds around the size of a thrush. They were on the ground pecking. One was stronger coloured than the other (they seemed to be together) a bit speckly with a black cap. I assumed it WAS a blackcap but looking at the ID books they're not speckly. I've been back a few times but haven't seen them again. Any ideas please? Also saw 5 or 6 birds just rootling around by the Madjeski stadium that looked like redwings but they had very auburn chests. Were they something else? Very pretty whatever they were. Thanks.

TeeJay · Answer

Hi littlefairycat 
 I'm not sure I know what you saw either but I'll have a go. Not much to go on. Black cap, speckly and about the size of a thrush 
 I wonder whether what you saw might have been a male and female reed bunting. The male has quite a lot of black on the head (fairly muted at this time of year) whereas the female is less coloured. They are stripey rather than speckled but may have given that appearance at a quick glance. There is one snag, however, they are smaller than a thrush, more sparrow sized, Well, two out of three ain't bad! 
 They are seen feeding on the ground. Take a look at these photos of reed buntings. What do you think? Could they have been what you saw? 
 
 
 As to the other birds near the Madjeski, redwings are still around but so are fieldfares and they are aften seen in flocks prior to them migrating back to Scandinavia. The fieldfare is bigger ( more blackbird sized) than a redwing but it does have quite an auburn chest. Here's a photo of one. 
 
 Hope this is of some help. 
 TJ

littlefairycat · Answer

Thanks to everyone who replied & sorry it took so long to get back! So many other things to do! I thought the reed buntings looked similar but I'm sure the birds I saw were bigger. I've not seen them again in spite of lurking around! As for the other birds at the Madjeski, the size of the fieldfare looks right but the birds had two eye stripes like a redwing. Maybe they were both brand new species I discovered!