Fieldfares are attractive winter thrushes that arrive from Scandinavia in large flocks, depending on berry crops and fallen fruit for survival through the UK winter.
Fieldfares that deplete their preferred berry food sources in hard winters face food insecurity in mid-season. Cold snaps that freeze ground and eliminate invertebrate access force birds into gardens seeking fallen fruit. Garden bird feeding with apples, pears, and berry-bearing shrubs provides a critical welfare supplement during these periods. Each berry-rich hedge retained in farmland provides food for hundreds of individual birds.