The Ring Ouzel sounds like some sort of West Country scarecrow and it is indeed mainly black. 'Rock Ouzel', 'Tor Ouzel' or 'Moor Blackbird' are all old Devonshire names for the Ring Ouzel as it was once fairly common on Dartmoor. It is the Blackbird of mountain areas. A few breed in the Scottish Highlands and you are most likely to see them in spring, as they pass through from overwintering in southern Europe.
The Ring Ouzel is slightly smaller than a Blackbird and is predominantly black with a conspicuous white crescent across its breast. Females are browner and duller than males, and youngsters may lack the chest markings altogether. Their song is a desolate, repetitive, fluting "tri-rii, tri-rii, tri-rii".
Ring Ouzels are omnivores, eating invertebrates, particularly insects and earthworms, small vertebrates, and a wide range of fruit, including juniper berries. Most of their prey is caught on the ground.
The Ring Ouzel is a high-altitude bird, breeding in open mountain areas with a few trees or shrubs like heather, conifer, or juniper. Breeding begins in mid-April and continues through to mid-July. Mum builds a cup-shaped nest of leaves, grass and mud close to the ground, hidden in vegetation or a crevice. She incubates the 3-6 eggs, which hatch after 13 days. The youngsters fledge 14 days later and are dependent on mum and dad for a further 12 days. They will often have two broods. Mum and dad undergo a complete moult after breeding, from late June to early September, before starting their autumn migration.
About 7,000 pairs breed in Britain and the longest-lived Ring Ouzel ever, who was fondly titled 'super Ouzel', returned to its Aberdeenshire breeding place for ten consecutive years from 2008 to 2018. It reared over 50 chicks in the years it was monitored. Their average lifespan, though, is usually about two years.
Their Latin name is 'turdus torquatus' where 'turdus' means 'thrush' and 'torquatus' means 'adorned with a neck chain or collar' (from where we get the word 'torc' for a necklace). A perfect description. The English name goes back to the old Anglo-Saxon word 'osle' which translates as 'blackbird' and with its distinctive neck ring became Ring Ouzel.