Give this shy chorister a home in your garden
January can feel like a dull month after the festivities of Christmas and new year but look closely and you’ll see small signs of nature slowly awakening, with all the hope that brings. Listen – and you might even be rewarded with birdsong!
Song thrushes can start being vocal from late January, making them one of just a handful of birds you might hear now.
As we nudge finally into spring and birds start singing in earnest in preparation for the breeding season, song thrushes are one of the first to start singing in the morning – they really are the early bird!
The clue is in the name, but they have a distinctive and very pleasant voice which is loud and clear, and usually a series of repeated phrases, though each bird’s call is a little different. They can get confused with a blackbird, another early singer, but a song thrush’s vocal phrasing is much shorter and not quite as melodic.
How to ID a song thrush
Song thrushes are slightly smaller than blackbirds and are a warm brown on top with creamy white and buff speckled fronts.
They’re quite shy birds and you often need to look closely to spot them in the garden. While starlings boldly peck around in lawns, a song thrush tends to stick to the cover of bushes and trees, waiting for the coast to clear so it can come and try its luck at finding worms in safety.
They do excel at one piece of food gathering though – they’re renowned for their prowess in de-shelling snails.
They use hard surfaces, often having a preferred rock, and bash the snail’s shell against it so they can get to the fleshy goodness inside. Look for small shell fragments around patios or rock gardens and you’ve probably found a ‘thrush’s anvil’. Even better news for your garden is the fact they also eat slugs.
We’ve seen a steep decline in song thrust numbers, with populations falling by almost 50% after the late 1960s.
Like many species, a loss of food-rich nesting habitat is believed to have contributed to the decline, but there have been slow signs of recovery in recent years, although they still need help.
Q. How can I help song thrushes in my garden?
A. As with most birds, providing food and suitable nesting sites is the best way you can encourage them into your garden and help the species recover.
They like damp areas with leaf litter that attract worms and shelter insects, and a log pile and some wild flowers are also good features to have.
Don’t use slug pellets – allow these birds to control pests naturally.
Thick hedgerows or shrubs are great for nesting
Ensure there’s a nearby water source, even if it’s just an upturned bowl you refresh daily and clean each week.
The more gardens offering the right conditions for song thrushes, the more chance the species has of recovering. There’s more advice at rspb.org.uk
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Top Tip for January
The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch takes place over the weekend of January 24, 25 and 26. Share information about what’s going on with your garden birds and join more than 600,000 others who regularly take part in the world’s largest garden wildlife survey.
All you need to do is spend an hour counting the birds visiting your garden and send in the results.
Find out more at www. rspb.org.uk/birdwatch
Q&A
Q. I heard a drumming sound in my local woodlands – is this too early to be a woodpecker?
A. Great spotted woodpeckers can begin drumming as early as January. They are making others aware of their presence and marking their territory, as well as beginning to look for a mate.
Q. A bird is using my garden nestbox – isn’t it early to be building a nest?
A. Depending on the species, it is probably using the nestbox as a roost, to keep warm on cold nights. Some birds do start to scope out nestboxes as early as January, but they won’t start to build nests and lay eggs until the warmer weather in spring.
Find more tips, advice and articles like this at the Amateur Gardening website. Subscribe to Amateur Gardening magazine now
