Having featured the blackbird yesterday, today’s bird is a close relation. It’s another of the family Turdidae, this time the much less commonly seen Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). Like the blackbird, it’s a member of the thrush family, but it tends to keep well away from inhabited areas, preferring woodland fringe and fields (hence its name).

I’d hiked across a couple of fields at lunchtime. It was beautiful out, but cold, so a walk seemed to make more sense than freezing at the edge of the pond. I headed for a small wood just to the south of Falmer (and just inside the South Downs National Park).

There hadn’t been too much to see, and maybe it was the cold but I got a little creative with the camera. It makes a change to try something different every now and then.

Emerging from the woods, and still having seen little if any wildlife, I came across a lone fieldfare. It’s something of a winter bird so it was probably less bothered by the cold than I was. It was bracing itself against the chill wind.

It was a treat to get such a clear shot, even from quite a distance away.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.