Blackbird - Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust

Key Facts

Length: 25cm
Weight: 100g
Average Lifespan: 3 years
Wingspan: 36cm

One of our most familiar thrushes, the melodious Blackbird is a common sight in gardens, parks and woodland across the UK.

Blackbirds are especially fond of feeding on lawns and can be seen with their heads cocked to one side, listening for earthworms. They also feed on insects and berries – leave out a few old apples or plant berry-producing bushes in the garden to attract these delightful birds.

How to Identify

Unmistakeable: male Blackbirds are entirely black with a yellow bill and yellow ring around the eye. Females are dark brown, with streaking on the chest and throat, and juveniles are also dark brown, but covered with gingery streaks.

Where to Find

Widespread.

How People Can Help

You can help to look after Blackbirds and other garden birds by providing food and water for them – it doesn’t matter if you have a big garden or live in a high-rise flat, there are plenty of feeders, baths and food choices out there to suit all kinds of situations. To find out more about encouraging wildlife into your garden, visit our Wild About Gardens website: a joint initiative with the RHS, there’s plenty of facts and tips to get you started. To buy bird food or feeders, visit the Vine House Farm website – an award-winning wildlife-friendly farm which gives 5% of all its takings to The Wildlife Trusts.

Did you know?

One of our commonest garden birds, Blackbirds are actually partially migratory within the UK (Scottish populations visit Northern Ireland for example) and strongly migratory within Europe with birds from Scandinavia and the Baltics joining our residents in winter.