Bird moves gradually, quietly in distress (5,7)
I believe the answer is:
hedge sparrow
'bird' is the definition.
(hedge sparrow is a kind of bird)
'moves gradually quietly in distress' is the wordplay.
'moves gradually' becomes 'edges' (to edge is to slowly or gradually move).
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'distress' becomes 'harrow' (something harrowing is distressing).
'edges'+'p'='edgesp'
'edgesp' placed into 'harrow' is 'HEDGE-SPARROW'.
(Other definitions for hedge sparrow that I've seen before include "Small brownish songbird" , "Small European songbird" , "Dunnock" , "Bird" .)