Fieldfare

Fieldfare Turdus pilaris
(Björktrask in Swedish)
The weather forecast had mentioned the possibility of snow but even so it was still a surprise to awaken to a white world. There were a lot of photographs today. A huge flock of fieldfares descended on the rowan trees in the village. Rusty and I took a long walk in the forest, partly in the wilder deep forest. And of course there was the snow.
A  picture of one of the hundreds of fieldfares made it into the prime spot. They are eating their way southwards to their overwintering grounds in Europe, many spending the winter in the UK, before returning to the Arctic to breed next spring. The flock has an unending restless energy, settling on a tree for a few seconds, perhaps a minute, and then moving on, maybe returning a little later. Rustling, moving, flapping, calling - once they arrive you can't miss them. The only question is identification - the giant flocks of waxwings behave in exactly the same way. Fortunately both breeds are easily identified once you see the individuals.
The walk into the forest with Rusty was tougher than planned because we took the path less travelled (which shortly disappeared thereafter) and ended up the wrong side of a stream stepping over huge piles of fallen wood, and deep marsh grass. It took a fair while to find a way over the stream, for me at least. Rusty crossed on fallen logs several times! We were both very tired when we got home!
The snow is due to melt over the next few days so the green winter will return.
The extras show another fieldfare, berry in beak, and a picture of Rusty in the deep forest.