Granddad’s Camera
Song thrush, as it appears in the game

No.205 · Birds · Uncommon

Song thrush

Turdus philomelos

A warm brown thrush with a speckled cream breast, famous for repeating each phrase of its song two or three times. It smashes snails on a favourite stone.

When to look

All year, mostly at dawn, day and dusk.

Time of day

Best time
Dawn and dusk song from January; snail-breaking on damp mornings.
Where in the game
Millbrook (garden, churchyard and park)
Size
Length about 23 cm
Weight
About 75 g (BTO adult average)
Lifespan
Typically about 3 years once breeding; oldest ringed bird 11 years 8 days (BTO)
Population
About 1.3 million territories in the UK (2016); down 45% since 1967 (BTO)
Status
Amber (as listed by BTO)

Diet

Snails, earthworms and insects; berries in autumn and winter.

Habitat

Essentially a woodland bird that has adapted to parks and gardens; found in about 94% of UK breeding squares.

Breeding

Clutches of about 4 eggs; 2–3 broods a year. Incubation and fledging each about 14 days. First clutches average 21 April (BTO).

Field signs

  • Warm brown above, cream below with neat arrow-shaped spots; orange-buff under the wing
  • Loud, repeated phrases sung from a high perch at dawn and dusk
  • Piles of broken snail shells around a flat stone (a 'thrush anvil')

Did you know?

  • A song thrush smashes a snail's shell against a stone to reach the soft body inside; shell piles show where (BTO).
  • The UK population fell 45% since 1967, with a steep drop in the 1970s and 80s and only a modest recovery since (BTO).
  • Unlike a blackbird, it is rarely seen at feeders; it is most likely to come for snails and worms in a damp, unsprayed garden.

Moments worth waiting for

  • Snail on the anvil March to October, dawn and day
    A song thrush grips a snail by the lip of the shell and cracks it on a stone, again and again.

Photo tip

Watch the anvil stone at first light on a damp morning and wait at a distance. Sing perch at dawn works in March–May.

Be a good naturalist

Avoid slug and snail poisons: they starve the thrush and can poison it. Keep some lawn edge and leaf litter.

The law

Protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it is an offence to damage an active nest.

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