Identify garden bird please (Sorry, no photo)

We have a new solitary visitor which I nearly identified as a female blackbird, but not quite. Can anyone guess what it might be? (Disclaimer- I'm not British so a common British bird can be a very exotic first time experience for me It's not a sparrow nor a swan, I'm (nearly) sure about that. )

• About the same size (or slightly bigger) as a blackbird, but rounder head. Brown beak and eyes.
• Uniformly reddish brown colour, no spots, mottling nor streaks. Slightly lighter and redder colour on the chest and belly.
• Appeared when I cleaned out rotting leaves from the pond, looks like it's looking for slugs or worms- but also tasted some bread crumbs. Not interested in seeds.
• Walks, rather than hops, wagging it's tail up and down slowly.
• Says "twak twak"

Mr Google and bird books haven't answered my question but I trust the knowledgeable GC folks will know this straight away.

Somehow the visitor only appears when any appliances with a camera are nowhere around, so I have no photo to show yet.

Thanks!

 

Why have you ruled out female Blackbird?

 

Thanks!
Female blackbird seems to have some mottled pattern or even spots on the breast, and this one doesn't. The colour is very smooth and uniform. That's what's baffling me, all the usual suspects have some mottling there. Also, the beak is darker and the eyes brown instead of black.

I have been googling images of female blackbirds, but they don't quite fit.

 

It could be a youngster from last year who hasn’t quite got her adult plumage yet. Young Blackbirds can show a lot of plumage variation. Google “juvenile Blackbird” for some pictures.

 

Now I'm again leaning towards a blackbird, these are not far off apart from the colouring




which is really very smooth. Sort of wood pidgeon chest kind of uniform colouring if you know what I'm trying to say...?

 

I would agree with it being a young female Blackbird as there really aren't any other similar sized or coloured birds, as Thrushes would not fit the ID.

 

It sounds to me like you're describing a young Starling in its juvenile plumage but its far too early to be seeing babies born this year

Is it common for Starlings to keep their juvenile plumage through the winter? Does anyone know?

Blackbirds don't walk btw, they hop. Starlings walk

 

Thank you everybody! And a special thanks to @wiseowl for the links to the buzzing topics, brilliant photos

Today I have declared her firmly as a Blackbird- she has a boyfriend!

Unfortunately she didn't want to pose for photos, but sharp eyed people might recognise the brownish blob on the soil and amongst the ivy as her. They might have a nest in the ivy thicket, it's en suite with a pond underneath. She took a bath before disappearing into the ivy.

(The lawn is not uphill, I'm just pretty useless with the Teenager's IPad. Sorry. )