Fieldfares often nest in small colonies, possibly for protection from predators. The nest is built in a tree where five or six eggs are laid. The chicks are fed by both parents and leave the nest after a fortnight.

The fieldfare is 25 cm long, with a grey crown, neck and rump, a plain brown back, dark wings and tail and white underwings. The breast and flanks are heavily spotted. The breast has a reddish wash and the rest of the underparts are white. The sexes are similar in appearance but the females are slightly more brown.

The male has a simple chattering song and the birds have various guttural flight and alarm calls. The fieldfare is omnivorous. Food includes snails, slugs, earthworms, spiders, insects, flies and grasshoppers. When berries ripen in the autumn these are taken in great number. In winter apples are eaten, swedes attacked in fields and grain and seeds eaten.