Thrushes

As I write it is nearly spring and each morning I am woken by either a song thrush or a blackbird singing close by. The past winter has been harder than of late and groups of redwings and fieldfares have come into my garden to peck at fallen apples on the lawn. Sometimes, in wet and windy weather, a mistle thrush sings a wild song from the very top of an ash tree overlooking the garden. Thrushes are deeply familiar birds to most of us in this country and are woven into our poetry and culture, so it is surprising...