Field guide to the most commonly encountered mammals and birds

Here, we provide some basic information regarding commonly observed species (plus some others about which we have had queries).  

Feel free to contact us by email if you have any questions regarding species you have encountered on the site.

For more information about mammals, we recommend the Mammal Society's species hub, here. For birds, excellent resources are available from the RSPB (here) and the BTO (here).

 

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Blackbird (Eurasian)

(C) Cloudtail the Snow Leopard (shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)

 

Scientific Name: Turdus merula

Appearance: Sexes differ. Adult male: dark, uniformly black with bright yellow bill and eye-ring. Female: dark brown with some lighter mottling on centre of throat and rufous tinge on breast. Yellow-brown bill.

Song: Melodic, fluent, vociferous but mellow whistling. Variable, with large repertoire of phrases, which often end with a high-pitched ‘scratchy’ flourish.

When heard: Resident. Full song from mid- to late-February, continuing through to the end of the breeding season in August or September.

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