Garden Finch Flock.

After yesterdays brief visit of a couple of Bramblings I spread quite a lot of sunflower seed chips over the grass to try and encourage the finch flock in to feed.

Even before I'd finished my first cup of tea the Chaffinches started to arrive. I reckon that there are 68 birds in the picture above and at one time there were over 100 feeding across the "lawn".

After a few minutes I saw this male Brambling, still not in his full breeding plumage but starting to look quite stunning.

All the time the flock was in and out of the garden, never settling for more than a couple of minutes, I didn't see a Sparrowhawk come through but I'm sure one was around by the nervousness all the birds were showing. At one point this group, just in front of my study, had several Bramblings in it. I thought, when I pressed the shutter, that there were five but in fact there are seven, the most I've seen together in the garden. There were plenty of Greenfinches around, but they rarely joined the others on the ground, preferring the hanging feeders. I don't know why because at other times they've out numbered Chaffinches on the ground. Perhaps most of the visitors have already moved on.

I got a male Chaffinch and a male Brambling to pose next to each other for a direct comparison. I always think that the Brambling looks a bit plumper.

Low tide in the Bay this evening seemed very low, with vast amounts of rocks and seaweed showing. There were several Oystercatchers feeding out on the rocks and they were joined by a Curlew that promptly disappeared into one of the gullies and wouldn't come out for a photo shoot. A rarity in the distance is a SeaFrance Ferry.

The cold North Easterlies were not ideal for mothing and only one Hebrew Character was in the trap this morning.