Always thought thrushes were solitary birds, but there has a family of 4 hanging around the last 2-3 years, fair enough i thought.

However yesterday I was was on a new route exploring and was almost mobbed by a flock of hundreds of thrushes – everywhere I went I was almost running over them.

Is this normal?

Are you sure they're thrushes?

Sounds as though you could have seen Redwings and Fieldfares – both thrush family winter visitors.

More likely to be redwings or fieldfares. Both types of thrush, but are winter visitors. They do flock together.

probably fieldfares.

Not 100% sure tbh, they didn't look quite right I guess, the sun was half blinding me at the time.

/me goes to google fieldfares and redwings.

Yep, fieldfares, redwings or maybe even mistlethrushes. Currently trying to figure out which of the three are hanging round in my back garden in a flock of around 200

Redwing

Fieldfare

How red is the red on a redwing?

more of a blush than a bright robin red?

There were definitly Fieldfares as I saw the grey rump as they flew and presumed it was young'uns – but quite a few seemed reddy under the wings, but thought it was the after image from the sun.

Either way it was very impressive.

Redwings have the russet flash under the wing and are predominatly brown above, Fieldfare's are much biggerer and are more grey above. When you see them together they're easy to tell apart. We regularly get a flock in our back garden on a small tree with loads of red berries on. For a short period of time. Until they've stripped it bare and hoovered up the berries knocked to the ground. Then they bugger off and do the same somewhere else. If you have a Pyrocanthus hedge with loads of berries on, that's a Thrush magnet, they'll be all over that like locusts.

Turns out it may well have been a mix of both. Our book of garden birds says they regularly hang out together ie redwings and fieldfares.Xipe, that's exactly what they were doing, stripping a bush. The mixture of both would explain the different colours going on in the flock – lovely sights though.

I can't believe nobody suggested baby robins 😆
what is the forum coming to?

But yeah a flock of fieldfares / redwings stripped my mothers holly tree yesterday.

I was going to type the redwings stripped my mum's bush – but that's just plain wrong. 😯

It is wrong, because it was me, not the redwings

Baby Robins?

my pyrocanthus was stripped of berries about a week ago… didn't get to see who did it though.

I'll have another scan on sunday I think, although it's supposed to snow here then.

Watching them here for the last couple of days, i'm amazed that they flock in such numbers. Rather than eating, which is what i'd expect them to do in these conditions, the Fieldfares seemed to have spent most of their time either fighting each other or threatening any bird that comes in range. One of them is even having a go at the Wood Pigeons when they get too close, which is great to watch. I doubt it would be quite so belligerent towards the local Sparrowhawk.

I'm not sure what the Redwings gain from flocking with the Fieldfares. They don't seem to have the same aggressive nature & being smaller lose out on the choicest feeding opportunities.

Nature is odd sometimes.

redwings in my garden in west london

We've noticed fieldfares and redwings in the garden (Edinburgh) for the first time ever this winter. Generally about three or four together.

I think the Redwings use the Fieldfares to knock loose berries onto the ground where they pick them up, before the Fieldfares go onto the ground after they've stripped the bush. I was watching them a day or two ago, and the Redwings seemed to spend more time on the ground. There was one lonely Fieldfare out in our garden this afternoon pecking away at the last little bits in the snow. Looked rather sad, poor thing.

They're all outside again this morning – loads of them – what gives then? Is it the weather driving them in from the countryside? Or is it just random?

I think it is the weather driving them in from the countryside. We always get a few redwings/fieldfares in the garden but this year there's been loads and I've just come back from my Saturday morning run and they are everywhere. In previous years they are usually to be found over local farmland, digging for grubs. I can only surmise that the snow cover has brought them in to gardens more than usual