At the bottom of my garden here in Great Chalfield is a group of Yew trees. I have no idea if these lovely trees normally fruit so heavily as I’ve only been here since the summer, but whether in response to the coming cold weather or not every branch has been laden with small red berries since about October.

One of the benefactors of this bounty has been a resident Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus. Look online and every description of the Mistle Thrush includes reference to how this bold, territorial (and large) bird will adopt a berry tree - its common name refers to its eating of mistletoe berries - and defend it against all-comers. Easier said than done when this winter has brought an invasion of Redwings and Fieldfares from Scandinavia, but ‘my’ Mistle has been doing its best!

So far I’ve not been able to photograph the inter-thrush scuffles as they tend to happen in a blur of feathers deep within the branches (I’ll keep trying), but at least I have managed to get close enough to get some decent images of it feeding.

Mistle Thrushes are easy enough to identify. While most juvenile thrushes are spotty there are only a handful of species that are heavily spotted as adults, and three of those appear to be genetically closely-related: the Mistle, Song (T. philomelos), and Chinese Song (T. munipensis) Thrushes (Mistle and Song are relatively easy to find here in Wiltshire, the day I find a munipensis is the day I’ll really put Great Chalfield on the ornithological map!).

The Mistle Thrush is easily the largest and palest of the three, and gives a distinctive rattling call in flight (North American birders who hear one for the first time may well look up expecting to see a slightly odd-sounding Belted Kingfisher). It has a typically fluty song, but one that is a little repetitive and not especially complex. ‘My’ bird has been singing this week (one of the few local birds to be doing so) from a typically open and conspicuous site - the top of a bare Beech tree next to the Yews.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores 2009