A lone voice on the wind...listen out for the first birdsong of the year with Anna Allum from RSPB Pulborough Brooks
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Most birds wait until the days have lengthened and the sun peeks out, but there’s one – the Mistle Thrush – who braves the wind and rain and begins to display. For the Mistle Thrush is the ‘stormcock’ and whilst most birds would be hunkered down he will be perched atop the tallest tree he can find and he’ll perform his song.
The Mistle Thrush is a little larger than the Song Thrush with paler greyish plumage rather than the warmer brown tones. They share the speckled chest but in place of arrowhead-shaped markings they are adorned with bigger and squarer spots. Listen for his song which I think of as half-way between a Song Thrush and a Blackbird with short, repeated phrases but some of the rich tones of a Blackbird. But he also has a harsher call – a loud rattle said to sound like a football rattle.
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Hide AdDuring winter they enjoy eating berries and, if they find a good patch, they will guard it with vigilance. This includes balls of Mistletoe whose sticky white berries are particularly popular with the thrushes and, their habit of defending this precious resource, is the origin of their name. They defend these resources with good reason – those who feed well in winter tend to have bigger and earlier clutches of chicks.


But for now, the Mistle Thrush will be on his own, a solitary singer, who is performing in the hope of finding a partner and raising a family. So, on the days when the wind is howling and the rain is falling know that the stormcock will be out there, perched high and promising that spring will be on its way.