Find holly berries and you could spot a mistle thrush defending what’s left of its precious food stash
Attenborough presents the mistle thrush on Tweet of the Day
IF YOU NOTICE HOLLY BERRIES LEFT ON branches at the end of winter – and it is only female holly trees that have them in the first place – you may have come across the private larder of a mistle thrush. This is a bird that jealously guards its own berry supply to see itself through the winter months. Any other bird that dares spend too long in ‘its’ tree is chased away and subjected to a volley of agitated rattling calls. Blackbirds, song thrushes, robins, even woodpigeons and other mistle thrushes all get the same treatment.
Though holly is a particular favourite, a mistle thrush will also defend other sources of fruit, such as yew, hawthorn or mistletoe, the plant after which it is named. Sadly, the species has been added to the UK’s Red List of threatened birds, due to a sustained population decline over the past 50 years.