Fieldfare migration Turdus pilaris
▶ Follow the fieldfare across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
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| Scientific name | Turdus pilaris |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 42 cm |
| Adult weight | 105 g (adult) |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 2,134,304 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q25777 (CC0).
When does the fieldfare arrive in the UK?
A winter visitor in the records: numbers build from mid October and stay high until about late March.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 137,299 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
When do they arrive in and leave the UK? →
Migration in the data
2,134,304 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records stays between 54°N and 61°N all year: the shift is small at this scale.
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 55°N | 0% |
| February | 54°N | 0% |
| March | 54°N | 0% |
| April | 57°N | 0% |
| May | 59°N | 0% |
| June | 60°N | 0% |
| July | 60°N | 0% |
| August | 60°N | 0% |
| September | 61°N | 0% |
| October | 59°N | 0% |
| November | 56°N | 0% |
| December | 55°N | 0% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the fieldfare
The fieldfare is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It breeds in woodland and scrub in northern Europe and across the Palearctic. It is strongly migratory, with many northern birds moving south during the winter. It is a very rare breeder in the British Isles, but winters in large numbers in the United Kingdom, Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. …
From the Wikipedia article “Fieldfare” (revision 1371937958), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=2490737&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.